Overseas Venues Lead in Green Ops

Recent news indicates that U.S. facilities still lag behind their international counterparts in adopting eco-friendly management practices.

As part of its ongoing Ecowise program, the Sydney (Australia) Convention & Exhibition Centre will begin working with exhibition organizers that use the facility, in order to reduce the environmental impact of their events.

Seventy industry members have signed up to participate in a May 16 focus group meeting, where they and center officials will plot steps for conservation.

The Ecowise program already addresses recycling, food waste reduction, and water and energy conservation. It also has worked with some clients, such as the Australian Intl. Furniture Fair, which diverted six tons of cardboard from local landfills.

Meanwhile, Scotland's Edinburgh Intl. Conference Centre in March received a national award from the Business Environment Partnership and Scottish Enterprise, recognizing results of the facility's 8-year-old effort to reduce event waste, conserve power and offset carbons.

Since it began monitoring progress five years ago, the center's Green Team has cut exhibition waste by 52 percent, paper use by 76 percent and energy costs by 20 percent.

Think that's impressive? Last month, Canada hosted what some in the industry are calling the world's first zero-waste event.

With about 1,100 exhibitors and 23,000 attendees, the Nov. 30-Dec. 2 Construct Canada at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre didn't seem a likely candidate to live up to the facility's self-imposed no-waste challenge. The annual convention and exhibition for building design and construction professionals not only filled the entire facility, but also included exhibits of stone, brick, asphalt, wood and other architectural materials.

However, working with Turtle Island Recycling and event-management firm York Communications, the MTTC said it was able to recycle 26 metric tons of waste – 12 of them paper fiber – compared to 2 tons last year.

The center had a record to build on. In the past five years, it has brought its average waste recycling level to 57 percent, and reduced energy use by 40 percent, on top of its solar energy and food recycling programs.

Meanwhile, a recent study showed slow uptake of green building practices among U.S. facility managers. The Intl. Facility Management Assn.'s 2005 sustainability study indicated a 3-percent increase since 2002 in the number of operators adhering to a master plan to implement all feasible green concepts.

Still, 70 percent of the survey's 341 respondents said they had implemented some sort of environmentally friendly practices.

Those named most often were using natural sunlight, buying recycled office products, conserving water, participating in public incentive programs and adding environmentally friendly criteria to vendor and product selection. Facility operators also said that, over the next couple years, they planned to update lighting, educate employees and implement the U.S. Energy Star program for monitoring efficiency.

Pittsburgh's David L. Lawrence Convention Center, touted as the country's first green exhibition facility, reported last month on the impact its sustainability features are having on the environment.

According to center managers, the 3-year-old David L. Lawrence now recycles 6,000 pounds of cans and bottles and 124,000 pounds of paper and cardboard each year. Through a gray-water reclamation system, the facility has reduced water usage by 55 percent.

One major U.S. convention center supplier is also doing its part. Aramark recently unveiled a sustainable cuisine program, beginning with facilities on the West Coast.

At the Anaheim Convention Center, Aramark has eliminated from its menus seafood from species populations that are under threat of extinction and items produced under inhumane circumstances, such as foie gras and Beluga caviar.

At the same time, Aramark and the venue are working with local agricultural organizations to use menu items raised or grown according to eco-friendly practices; for example, Rain Forest Alliance coffee, grass-fed beef and organic fruits and vegetables.

Aramark said positive feedback from customers would undoubtedly lead to expansion of the program to other facilities.