Oracle OpenWorld
Oracle OpenWorld is aiming for 100 tons of waste diverted form landfill through purchasing, composting and recycling in 2009. Last year the event achieved 61% waste diversion, reducing waste by a total of 67 tons, and producing an estimated 2 lbs of trash per participant per day over the 5-day event. In addition to working with the meeting venue to donate and recycle, Oracle OpenWorld 2008 also reduced impacts by eliminating 11 shuttles per day, reducing the size of the onsite program by 60% and printing the publication on 100% post-consumer recycled content, using FSC certified paper. These printing decisions saved 965 trees!
DOWNLOAD THE CASE STUDY!! Oracle Sustainable Meetings Report 2009.pdf The UUA General Assembly 
Since 2005 the Unitarian Universalist Association has been working hard to cut waste at their annual General Assembly. UUA has been reducing paper use and reusing signage for four years now, in fact some of our signs will see their fifth year of use at the GA in Salt Lake City June 2009! Reducing pre-event mailers has saved over 36,000 pages, 20 trees and $10,000. UUA has also helped to increase recycling diversion in every city it has visited. Last year the group improved diversion at the Fort Lauderdale Convention Center by 8%. UUA’s highest recycling rate was achieved in Portland in 2007 where they overshot their goal of 40% recycling to achieve 67% diversion.
Canada Media Marketplace 2008
Even if your event is smaller you can show a big difference by reducing waste. Canada Media Marketplace 2008 practiced the simple rules of reduce, reuse and recycle to cut cost and trash at their 500-person event in Los Angeles, CA. Event host the Canadian Tourism Commission used re-useable banners and live plants for décor, much of which is being used for the 2009 event in New York where they will also be tracking their waste. In addition the CTC reduced print materials and used 50% post consumer recycled content paper for those documents that had to be printed. This seemingly small decision saved 140 lbs of wood, 180 gallons of water and 23 lbs of solid waste. As host venue for the event, the Beverly Hilton also expanded their recycling program to capture paper and plastics, improving diversion from 26% pre-event to 42% following!
Québec City Convention Centre
Since
launching its eco-friendly event program in 2007, the Québec City Convention
Centre has held more than 50 eco-friendly events. This turnkey facilitating
event program includes three easy-steps: assistance from a certified
eco-advisor during planning to set goals, operationalization in the convention
facility and a complete monitoring and recommendations.
Clients
can choose to organize a zero waste event, a zero waste event with offset
action or a zero waste carboneutral event. After the eco-friendly event, the
Centre produces an ecoresponsibility report for clients.
Here
are the results for the 50 eco-friendly events:
- 60,062 eco-conscious delegates
- 81 tons of recovered waste
- 32 tons of water saved
- 7,055 tons of greenhouse gases avoided and offset
- 687 trees saved
- $64,118 donated to various environmental initiatives
The
following results show that more than 80 % of the waste generated during
eco-friendly events is recovered.
Distribution
of residual materials during eco-friendly events
|
Compost
|
Plastic,
glass and metal
|
Cardboard
|
Paper
|
Wood
|
Waste
|
|
27
%
|
20
%
|
13
%
|
12
%
|
8
%
|
20
%
|
To
standardize works methods, the Centre weighs and sorts every matter collected. This
contributed to a significant reduction of trash sent to the incinerator.
Between 2008 and 2009 (from January to December), a cost decrease of 46 % in
terms of tonnage was recorded, which represents 60,3 tons less of incinerated
waste and a saving of almost 8 000 $ per year in processing.
What About You! The GMIC is waiting to add you here!
Please submit your plans for cutting your event waste, and we may highlight you in this space and on our blog. Email challenge@greenmeetings.info .