Green Meetings

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Green Meetings
Rebecca Mebane Director of Conferences and
Meetings National Recycling Coalition
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What is a Green Meeting?

• A meeting or event that incorporates
  environmental considerations to minimize
  itsnegative impact on the environment.
• -As defined by The Convention Industry Council

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How do I plan a Green Meeting?

• NRCs Green Meeting Policy
• Promotion/Printed Materials
• Transportation
• Working with Facilities
• Food Beverage Functions
• Hotels
• - Exhibit Hall/Exhibitors
• Educating Attendees
• Evaluation of Green efforts

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Promotion/Printed Materials

• General Use/ Paper Copying
• Always meet or exceed EPA standards for recycled
  content paper.
• (Executive Order 13101 states that paper
  purchased by Federal Agencies must have a minimum
  of 30 recycled content.)

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Promotion/Printed Materials

• Closing the Loop
• 1. Diverting Recyclables from the Waste Stream
• 2. Companies use these recyclables to manufacture
  new products
• 3. Purchase products made from recovered
  materials

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Promotion/Printed Materials

• How YOU can Close the Loop
• Make sure to use recycled content paper for
  in-house print jobs.
• Ask your printer to use recycled content paper
  for large volume print jobs.

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Promotion/Printed Materials

• Other considerations
• Always use back to back copying/printing ()
• Do not use goldenrod or fluorescent colored paper
• Limit any use of glossy paper

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Promotion/Printed Materials

• Promotional Materials
• Utilize electronic advertising/promotion whenever
  possible ()
• Make printed materials self mailers wherever
  possible ()
• Clean-up mailing lists ()
• Offer registration on-line
• Find mailing labels with water-based adhesives
• Print with non-volatile vegetable-oil based ink

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Promotion/Printed Materials

• Confirmation Materials
• Send confirmation materials
• electronically ()
• Make information available on website, and mailed
  only when requested
• Provide Attendees Green Traveler Ideas
• (Ask Green Hotels Association for permission to
  reprint.)
• www.greenhotels.com

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Promotion/Printed Materials

• Speaker Handouts
• Ask speakers to provide handouts electronically
  and post these on your website ()
• Then ask attendees to download materials in
  advance or provide computers/printers on-site for
  downloading presentations.

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Promotion/Printed Materials

• Provide attendees with disks/USB flash drives
  with all presentations
• Or
• Request that speakers ask attendees for business
  cards to mail any materials that are not provided
  on-site

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Promotion/Printed Materials

• On-site Materials
• Collect and reuse name tag holders/lanyards ()
• Have badge collection boxes at the registration
  area, exit of exhibit hall, and at exit of
  convention center on the last day
• Ask conference hotels to have collection boxes at
  front desk for check-out
• Offer a prize drawing from those recycled name
  tag holders

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Promotion/Printed Materials

• Conference give-a-ways (tote bags, mugs, etc.)
  should be made with recycled content materials.
• Speaker gifts/awards/etc. should be made from
  recycled materials or be environmentally
  conscious.

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• Recyclings true value
• comes from preventing pollution and, saving
  natural resources
• and energy- not just
• landfill space.

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• It takes 95 less energy to recycle aluminum than
  it does to make it from raw materials
• Recycled Plastics 70
• Recycled Steel saves 60
• Recycled Glass and Newspaper 40

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Promotional/Printed Materials

• Use reusable or recyclable signs ()

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Transportation

• Choose a destination with minimal travel
  requirements for delegates.  Shorter distances
  will result in less environmental impact. 
• Choose hotels/meeting venues accessible to
  airport by public transit system and have free
  time activities (restaurants and shops) within
  walking distance of each other.

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Transportation

• Use or give delegates incentives to travel via
  public transit (free passes or transit route
  maps).
• Offer attendees bike rentals.

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Transportation

• If transportation is being arranged for
  delegates, choose a vehicle powered by electric
  or hybrid power, natural gas, propane, methane
  gas or ethanol.
• Offer Carbon Offset Programs

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Working with Facilities

• In Advance
• Send a Recycling Waste Prevention Information
  Checklist with your RFP
• Ask if they are a EPA Energy Star, Green Seal, or
  LEED Certified Building.
• Ask about recycling programs, energy
  conservation, purchasing of recycled content
  products, etc.

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Working with Facilities

• Use this information to evaluate and choose
  facilities

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Working with Facilities

• Contracts
• Add as an appendix to your contract any Green
  Meeting requirements
• Facility agrees to abide by the following for
  all NRC events. If any additional costs are to
  be incurred by NRC for any of these items, these
  costs must be identified in the contract.
• You should include green meeting requirements
  with all vendors (decorators, printers, etc.)

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Working with Facilities

• Setup a recycling program for
• Paper
• All Beverage Containers (i.e. glass, plastic,
  aluminum cans) that are being served.
• Cardboard (done behind the scenes recycling
  containers not needed in 'public' areas).

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Working with Facilities

• -Collection areas should be visually well
  identified
• -Make sure to educate attendees on what can be
  recycled and where
• -Make sure to have trash cans near recycling
  containers

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Food Beverage Functions

• Eliminate use of disposable service ware
• Require all facilities to use non-disposable
  service ware

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Food Beverage Functions

• Using 1,000 disposable plastic spoons consumes
  over 10 times more energy and natural resources
  than manufacturing one stainless steel teaspoon
  and washing it 1,000 times.

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Food Beverage Functions

• If non-disposable service ware is unavailable
• use biodegradable disposable service ware in
  conjunction with a compost program or
• service ware made from recycled content
  materials.

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Food Beverage Functions

• Onsite concessionaires
• Ask concessionaires to use recycled content
  products or biodegradable disposable service ware
  in conjunction with a compost program
• Ask concessionaires to serve beverages to
  attendees in their Conference mugs.
• Promote/recognize concessionaires who are willing
  to work with you in those areas.

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Food Beverage Functions

• Eliminate the use of plastic or wood stir sticks
  with any beverage service, reusable spoons should
  be used at coffee service.
• "Box lunches" must be served buffet style
• Request cloth napkins and table cloths be used.
  In cases where this is not feasible, request
  compostable napkins or napkins made from recycled
  content materials.

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Food Beverage Functions

• Have cocktail napkins available at bar service
  but instruct bartenders not to automatically give
  them with each drink.
• Provide or ask attendees to use mugs.
• Use water coolers instead of individual bottles
  of water.()
• Have a recycling program for type of beverage
  containers that will be served (i.e. glass,
  plastic or cans).

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Food Beverage Functions

• Food Service
• All condiments (ketchup, mustard, mayonnaise,
  jelly, butter, sugar, creamers, etc) should be
  served in serving containers and not in
  individual packets.
• Ask to have food served without garnishes or use
  edible garnishes.

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Food Beverage Functions

• Where possible, donate surplus food to local
  shelters, soup kitchens, etc.
• Plan menus with locally grown or organic food
  (including fair trade, shade grown coffee, tea,
  chocolate, and cocoa).
• Serve only environmentally friendly seafood.
• Provide a signup form for meals section on
  registration form

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Food Beverage Functions

• Food Composting
• Ask Facilities to provide food composting
• or
• Sell scraps to Pig Farms

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Hotels

• Linen/Towel Program
• For hotels who don't already change towels and
  bed linens as requested, have them commit to
  doing this for your attendees during your stay.

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Hotels

• Provide cards that guests can use during their
  stay to let housekeeping know whether they want
  their towels and bed linens changed.
• Give these cards to hotel for them to give to
  your guests during check-in.
• Let attendees know in advance to expect these
  cards at check-in.
• Attendees should be instructed to call
  housekeeping at the hotel if the hotel is not
  following the instructions not to have their
  towels and bed linens changed.

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Hotels

• Dispensers in the bathrooms for shampoo/
  soap/etc,
• If they don't have a program already in place,,
  collect and donate opened hotel toiletries and
  soap.
• Work with the host committee to find
  organizations who can use opened hotel toiletries
  and soap.
• Have a collection box set up at the Convention
  Center on the last day and see if we can also
  setup collection boxes at the hotel front desk.

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Hotels

• Recycling
• Check to see if the hotel has in-room recycling
  containers or is able to collect recycling items
  from the trash. If not, instruct attendees to
  bring any recyclables from their hotel room to
  the collection stations in the meeting areas of
  the hotel.

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Exhibit Hall/Exhibitors

• The goal is to make recycling for exhibitors a
  positive experience and not to be so restrictive
  or make recycling so difficult that you
  discourage exhibitors from participating at your
  Conference.

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Exhibit Hall/Exhibitors

• Give-a-ways
• Ask exhibitors not to over-package give-a-ways
• Set up a collection for any 'useful' give-a-ways
  that would normally be thrown away and donate
  them to local shelters or schools.
• Ask exhibitors that give-a-ways be reusable items
  or items made from recycled materials.

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Exhibit Hall/Exhibitors

• Exhibitor promotional materials
• Give exhibitors your "Green" policy for
  promotional materials and ask/suggest that they
  adhere to them.
• Let exhibitors know in advance the expected
  number of attendees to help them in their
  planning an appropriate number of
  handouts/give-a-ways to bring.

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Exhibit Hall/Exhibitors

• Encourage exhibitors to bring small quantities
  and then mail materials to clients from their
  offices after the show or refer clients to their
  web site.
• Suggest exhibitors avoid printing dates and
  slogans on exhibit materials so that they may be
  easily reused.
• Let Exhibitors know how/where they can recycle
  their materials

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Exhibit Hall/ Exhibitors

• Recognition of "Green" Exhibitors
• Develop criteria to recognize "green" exhibitors.
  
• Send to criteria to exhibitors in advance.
• Recognize exhibitors, who meet a required level
  of the criteria, in post-Congress materials and
  at the following year's Congress (special
  notation on their booth signage or other signage
  which they can display at their booth).

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Exhibit Hall/ Exhibitors

• Decorator
• Work with decorator on putting decorator kit on
  the website.
• Work with decorator on trying to eliminate
  non-reusable materials (draping for tables, etc)
  or see if they can be reused by local schools,
  etc.

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Educating Attendees

• Educating Attendees
• Pre-Conference information
• Let attendees know in advance (either by e-mails
  or in Congress Confirmation materials) about
  general recycling programs that will be in place
  and how they can participate. If you will be
  providing the 'bed linen/towel changing' cards to
  the hotel, let attendees know they should be
  receiving them at check-in.

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Educating Attendees

• Program Book
• Include details of your on-site recycling/waste
  prevention program, including what materials
  will be recycled and where recycling bins are
  located what 'behind -the-scenes' recycling is
  taking place at the Convention Centers/Hotels/Off-
  site Facilities
• Notice of any special deals that on-site
  concessionaires are offering (that promote waste
  prevention)

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Educating Attendees

• Program Book (contd)
• Other waste prevention measures you are taking
  (reusing names badges signage, mug program,
  confirmation materials on the web, etc).
• Information should start with an intro into why
  we have this program in place.

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Educating Attendees

• Educating Attendees
• Announcement at sessions
• Reminders in daily signage

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Educating Attendees

• Encouraging/Rewarding Attendees
• Provide attendees seen with "I was caught green
  handed" buttons, pins, etc to help provide an
  incentive/reminder for attendees to
  recycle/eliminate waste.

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Educating Attendees

• Recycling Advisors
• Have designated volunteers to serve as recycling
  advisors. Have special badges, shirts or ribbons
  to identify these advisors. Purpose of recycling
  advisors is to help identify recycling areas to
  attendees and to help assist and encourage
  attendees to recycle.

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Evaluation of Green efforts

• Attendee Exhibitor Evaluation
• Have a section on the Conference Evaluation Forms
  asking them to rank your green meeting efforts
• Ask questions like
• Were you aware of our programs?
• Rate the ease of participating in the programs
• What other areas can our organization improve
  upon?

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Evaluation of Green efforts

• Post-Congress
• Let attendees know that a post congress
  recycling/waste prevention report will be
  available on your website some time after the
  Conference.
• Include information on how much/what kinds of
  materials were recycled.

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Recycled Content Fashion Show
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Recycled Content Fashion Show
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Recycled Content Fashion Show
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Recycled Content Fashion Show
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Recycled Content Fashion Show
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Recycled Content Fashion Show