Carina Bauer
CEO, IMEX Group
Everyone agrees on the need for more sustainable practices at professional events and conferences, so here are a few places to start.
Conference venues, exhibitors, and attendees all support more sustainable practices. Organizers can help improve the experience of your event while reducing environmental impact.
Continue to find new initiatives
For example, providing additional watercoolers and refillable water bottles in the event space can reduce the number of single-use plastic bottles. Eliminate straws and introduce paper recycling.
Support local communities
Compostable food packaging and service-ware lowers community impact. Food, materials, and leftover hotel amenities may be distributed to those in need rather than be thrown away.
Work together with your partners
IMEX launched a sustainability pledge to encourage exhibitors to commit to three green actions to minimize environmental impact at the show. This can include reducing all single use plastic, using public transport, and a sustainability education session.
Reward contributions
It’s not enough to encourage sustainability, efforts should also be recognized and rewarded.
Evaluate outcomes and make changes
Benchmark your performance against industry standards such as the APEX/ASTM Environmentally Sustainable Event Standards, helped by sustainability consultants MeetGreen.
Reducing environmental impact is essential now more than ever, in every area of life.