Trashy Blog

During its annual capacity report the American Forest & Paper Association reported that 56 percent of the paper consumed in the United States was recovered for recycling. The figures for 2007 are a record. In announcing the figure, the AFPA increased its new recovery goal to 60 percent by 2012. A total of 54.3 million tons of paper were recovered last year.

Get the whole story here:
www.recyclingtoday.com/news/news.asp?ID=12891

Let's add to that with the Trash Action Challenge from our industry!

Guest Author: Shawna McKinley, MeetGreen

Congratulations to the Unitarian Universalist Association, Meeting Professionals International, Salt Lake City CVB and Momentum Recycling for their recent work to spread the word about the value of green meetings! These partners recently teamed up in an effort to communicate their support of local efforts to develop commercial composting options in the City of Salt Lake. Both UUA and MPI are hosting events in Salt Lake in the coming weeks.

For the full article please visit:

www.exhibitoronline.com/news/enn-display.asp?counter=7547

...or a City, or a Venue, or a Hotel and a Lot of Committed People

Guest Author:  Paul Salinger, Oracle

Our Silver Award from IMEX for Oracle OpenWorld as a green event arrived the other day.  Now, this is pretty cool and a great acknowledgement of the work we’re doing.  In fact, we love anything that lets us claim a position of leadership.  But, we hate being #2 at anything, which means we still have some work to do to get that top award next year.

And, we do have a plan.  I (somewhat presumptively?) announced at the GMIC conference in February, when we issued the 1 Million Ton Trash Challenge, that Oracle OpenWorld would set a goal of increasing the 67 tons we diverted in 2008, to 100 tons diverted at our conference in 2009.  Clearly, I was giddy with the power of being in the moment of setting a big goal for the industry and wanting to show some leadership on the issue, having been part of the team that came up with the challenge in the first place (emphasis on part of the team).

Which leads me to the plan and the team.  My feeling is that it really does take a village, city, venue, hotel, lots of people to make this happen.  And that is what we’re focused on doing at Oracle OpenWorld this year.  We’re bringing everyone into the process, from the venue (Moscone Center) to the San Francisco Convention and Visitors Bureau to our key partner suppliers – Champion Expo Services, George P. Johnson, Hartmann Studios, InVision Communications -  (and they are partners), to key stakeholders within the Oracle events team.  All of us are working together through our virtual green team, holding monthly meetings to plan out and assess progress on key performance indicators we came up with jointly, tracking waste diversion through even the pre-event planning process and committing to goals in all the areas of measurement that go into making a green meeting.

Our common goal is to make green meetings the standard way of doing business as an industry.  The best way to do this is to get everyone in the event supply chain involved in the process early on and set clear expectations and agreed on key performance indicators so that this becomes the mindset going into an event, and not an afterthought.

Waste diversion has now become our primary focus as the top key performance indicator (at least for this year).  We have a great team and a great process, and we’re on our way to meeting our goal(s).  We’ll publish our case study for 2009 when the conference ends (in late October).

Let’s see if IMEX can ignore us for the top award for 2009.

And, I guess, this is a challenge from Oracle to other large conferences out there to see if they can outdo us.  We look forward to the competition.

Guest Author:  Shawna McKinley, MeetGreen

It was the ickiest and best chore at my grandparents: taking out the compost bucket. Icky because the compost pile was a bit away from the house and more than a little stinky. The best because on your way back from the pile you could sneak into the garden and steal sweet peas, beans and strawberries right off the vine and gorge yourself until grandma came out looking for you and yelled you were eating her pie berries from under her.

Compost is the good stuff that makes garden thieving so tasty. Depending on your region estimates are that as much as 50-60% of our household waste is compostable. This includes food scraps, yard waste, paper, wood and other organic material.

Waste tracking data from events shows we can divert 20-30% of material from landfill through composting. This is well in excess of the 10% solution being promoted by the GMIC’s trash challenge to divert one million tons of trash.

Not only is it good for the earth, but for many facilities it represents cost savings. Filtering out heavy, wet compost from trash can reduce trash hauling which may be more expensive than organic waste pick up. In rare examples it can also present a business opportunity for facilities able to invest in innovative waste management projects, such as ExCel London’s Wormery. Harnessing the power of 300,000 worms that eat twice their body mass per day, ExCel has reduced waste by approximately 90%!

www.excel-london.co.uk/mediacentre/greencredentials/foodwaste

Guest Author:  Michael Luehrs, MCI Group

Thankfully, a great deal of excitement has surfaced regarding recycling and the improved capture and diversion of waste at conferences and events.  Still, all this focus on ‘end of pipe’ solutions mustn’t distract us from re-invigorating efforts to “Re-Use” before we “Re-Cycle”, where possible, anyway.

Rather than plan to recycle all waste, consider items that can be re-used and given new, useful lives.  Consider the millions of pounds of banner material that gets discarded (read: landfilled) worldwide every year.  What if meeting planners partnered with companies like the innovative, hip and cool Red Flag Design (http://www.redflagdesign.ca/) in Vancouver, BC?

Red Flag Design is on a mission to “explore the vast potential laying dormant in the unconsidered applications of recycled materials”.  Their Alternate Use Material (AUM) is a line of products which feature brilliant uses of banner material that is expertly, fashionably rendered into space saving bags.


Re-using can have community benefits as well.  Inspired organizations like Portland, Oregon’s School and Community Re-Use Action Project, or S.C.R.A.P.  (www.scrapaction.org  ) are an award winning collaborative who find brilliant creative uses for foam core (avoid it’s purchase in the first place, please!), compact discs, wine corks, magazines and countless other things.


More examples exist and are, as usual, limited only by your persistence and creativity.  It is so important to track the waste associated with your event and to identify goals and actions that will support your efforts to reduce waste through better planning (Re-Think and Re-duce), donations (Re-use) and diversion (Re-cycle and Composting).  Measure the waste you divert from the landfill and record your results as part of the Trash Challenge! http://www.greenmeetings.info/trashchallenge/challenge.html


Plan to succeed, not waste!

Many meeting venues are making the switch to biodegradable and compostable plastics as they become a more affordable option compared to traditional plastics and polystyrene. But the best intentions can become complicatingly difficult when you consider how to dispose of these materials!

This article helps to explain some of the issues involved:

www.greenlivingonline.com/article/truth-about-bioplastics

Thanks to Sandra Wood at the Canadian Medical Association for the link!

Guest Author:  Nancy J. Wilson, CMP
Meeting Strategies Worldwide

Early on in learning how to implement green meeting practices, we were bringing a large conference to a convention center where we had requested (and been promised) recycling for the show.

During the precon, we asked about the recycling and the facility said the bins were being marked and would be out soon. We then asked about the diversion rates and a series of other questions. The director of operations turned red and stared sputtering. He finally blurted out, “We don’t actually recycle.” I was shocked! Their plan was to put out the bins to make the clients happy and then throw the bags in the landfill.

Had I looked back-of-house during the site inspection I would have seen there was no area for recycling storage or pick up from the back dock, or an area for sorting. Nothing but a huge dumpster with everything in it. Lesson learned: ask to be shown the areas for recycling EARLY in the planning process. 

Guest Author:  Michael Luehrs, MCI Group

Earth Day, a big splash to engage us all in an action to raise awareness about climate change, is a noble pursuit, I suppose. The concern I have with Earth Day is the concern I have with Valentine’s Day. They provide too much comfort too easily..as in ” I’ve done my bit, now I can go back to being an insensitive slob”.

Should my wife wait for Valentine’s Day each year to get flowers and chocolate? Should our commitment to changing our behavior be limited to one day?

Earth Day, like Valentine’s Day, are great opportunities to take special action in a lifetime of commitment. Don’t be the guy who brings flowers once a year, and don’t wait for Earth Day 2010 to take action to make a difference.

Guest Author: Shawna McKinley Project Manager, Meeting Strategies Worldwide

Vancouver, Canada

Grab your overalls, nose plug and tongs and let’s dive into the GMIC’s 2009 Trash Challenge!

But hang on a second…before you dive in you might be wondering what’s in that dumpster? Event waste is actually pretty unique, and knowing what’s tossed out is the first step to understanding how you can meet the challenge of reducing your trash.

Each event is different, depending on its theme, scope and attendees. The following breakdown of waste from some actual events might help you anticipate the different kinds and amounts of materials that can come from your meeting.

Event #1: Association Education Conference & large Trade Show

• 25% Trash
• 17% Compost (food and compostable disposables)
• 13% Carpet
• 12% Construction materials
• 8% Cardboard
• 7% Plastic, glass, metals
• 6% Donated food
• 4% Paper
• 4% Donated re-usable products
• 3% Vinyl
• 1% Oil

Event #2: Corporate Sales & Education Conference with Trade Show

• 39% Trash
• 20% Compost (food & compostable disposables)
• 10% Mixed paper
• 8% Cardboard
• 7% Wood
• 5% Donated re-usable products
• 3% Metals
• 3% Construction materials
• 2% Cans/bottles
• 2% Carpet padding
• 1% Plastics

As you can see reducing the use of non-reusable or non-recyclable materials in the pre-planning phase is the best way to prevent trash. Finding ways to compost food and compostable disposables can also greatly help reduce waste, in addition to recycling the materials you would expect, like paper, cardboard, plastic, metals and glass. Watch the Trashy Blog for more tips on how to “dive in” to the GMIC’s 1 million ton challenge!