Seattle Rolls Green Carpet Out for PCMA

SEATTLE—During the Professional Convention Management Assn.'s Annual Meeting last year at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre, PCMA President and CEO Deborah Sexton said the group would not take its future events to any destination that didn't meet a minimum standard of greening requirements.

She meant business: The requirements are actually listed in the meeting's RFPs.

“We also encourage (the destinations) to tell us what else they are going to do,” Sexton said.

To members, the association's commitment to the environment is important. “It sets a precedent for the membership,“ said Mary Zavislan, meetings and membership director for Shaw/Yoder Assn. Management. “I manage an annual meeting, and I'm learning from the standards (PCMA) sets.“

At this year's annual meeting, held Jan. 13-16 at the Washington State Convention & Trade Center in Seattle, PCMA's push to go green was a classic case of preaching to the choir.

Seattle has led the charge in the environmentally friendly movement. Here, it's not a matter of green-washing – doing the bare amount necessary to maintain appearances in a growing worldwide shift to being green. In the Emerald City, green is the real deal.

According to the Seattle Convention & Visitor's Bureau, one example of the city's commitment to the environment came after the United States rejected participation in the Kyoto Protocol, an international treaty regarding climate change. Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels pioneered an effort to encourage city governments around the nation to embrace new standards through a plan called the U.S. Mayor's Climate Protection Agreement.

“Here, they are way ahead of other destinations,” Sexton said.

Seattle's environmental initiatives made it easier for PCMA, working with the convention center, to make this year's meeting greener than ever.

Here are just a few of the actions they took:

• To reduce plastic waste, PCMA did not serve individual bottled water at the meeting. Instead, all attendees got a reusable bottle that could be filled at water stations throughout the building.
• Convention bags, produced by BrandAdvantage, were made from organic jute and recycled nylon. PCMA donated extra bags to a local charitable organization.
• To cut down on paper waste, most handouts were available at print-on-demand stations in the center.
• Food preparation focused on locally grown products and featured some organic food items that were free of environment-harming pesticides.
• All the tables at the more than 3,000-person luncheons held evergreen seedling centerpieces that were donated afterward to a reforestation project along one of Washington's interstate highways.

Sexton made it clear that PCMA would continue to stand by its green commitment. “This is what's coming,“ she said. “This is our future, and people need to get used to it. We may have a little pushback, but this is what PCMA is going to do.“

Seattle's meeting and exhibition industry also is working diligently to be as green as possible. The city's 20-year-old convention center was built before sustainable materials were readily available, but now it's dedicated to making up for lost time.

John Christison, the building's president and COO, said, “This building's not built to the same standards as some are now.”

However, he added, an existing structure across the street from the main building is being refitted with meeting and exhibition space in order to earn the U.S. Green Building Council's Silver Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification. That structure was built in 2001 as part of an expansion.

The main building also is going through a renovation, Christison said, and updated items such as carpeting will be made from recycled materials. “These are the processes we are beginning to go through,” he added.

Even though the building itself may not be technically considered sustainable from an environmental standpoint, the WSCTC is doing its part to save the planet in several other ways year-round.

“The facility recycles almost every product possible,” said Ed Barnes, WSCTC's vice president of operations. According to him, the building recycles products far beyond the standard plastic, paper and aluminum items:

• 3,328 gallons of kitchen grease, reused by a rendering plant
• all spent AA, AAA and 9-volt batteries
• cell phone batteries
• an estimated 8,000 wood pallets, sent back to the shipper to be reused
• tradeshow banners, made into carrying bags

Barnes said of the banners, “We are the first ones to do that that I know of, and it's a great step for the future.”

Aramark, the center's caterer, is also a part of the greening effort. Dawn Wheeler, Aramark's general manager at the center, said her company has had a partnership with Fair Start, a local Seattle job-training organization, for three years. Beyond Aramark hiring people that come out of Fair Start's hospitality program, she added, “they also help us feed the food banks” with leftover food from events.