How to “Green” an Event

There are a growing number of resources available to businesses, meeting planners, and destination managers who want to offer “environmental-friendly” events. These resources provide “best practices” to improve both the environmental and economic bottom lines. As the Ocean’s Blue Foundation explains on “Blue Green Meetings” website:

“Environmentally responsible meetings are not only good for the earth, they’re great for business. Planning or supplying a green meeting gives you the competitive edge, a great reputation, and can save you time and money in the process.”

Oceans Blue Foundation offers its Blue Green Meetings guide, with resources for event hosts, planners and suppliers. The site offers a quiz to rate “how green is your meeting” and “Ten easy tips” to make your event more environmentally friendly. Their links provide “more tools, tips and resources” on green meetings, lodging, and purchasing.

While the Blue Green Meetings site is hosted by the Oceans Blue Foundation, it is owned by the Green Meeting Industry Council. The council was formed in 2003,

To improve meeting management practices by promoting environmentally responsible strategies through the collaborative efforts of the hospitality industry, corporations, government, and community organizations. The GMIC is committed to supporting economic, environmental, and community objectives as they relate to the meeting industry.”

The council hosts an online forum where participants can offer case studies and success stories, discuss the challenges facing meeting planners and destination managers, and exchange tips and practical advice.

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The Convention Industry Council publishes a Green Meetings Report (PDF), which provides best practices for event organizers and suppliers. The report covers everything from destination and accommodation selection, to transportation and exhibition production, food and beverages, marketing and office procedures.

The report was written by the council’s Green Meetings Task Force in 2004, which included representatives from the EPA, the Ocean’s Blue Foundation, the Society of Incentive Travel Executive’s Green Meeting Group, the World Travel Organization, among others.

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The National Recycling Coalition publishes its Green Meetings Policy (PDF), which was developed for its annual meeting in 2001. The first section walks the reader through policies related to printed material, food and beverages, and onsite waste reduction and recycling, followed by a series of appendices listing minimum requirements to be incorporated in Requests for Proposals. The document also includes the Green Hotel Best Practice Survey, a comprehensive checklist developed by the Coalition for Environmentally Responsible Economies.

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Manchester, England is working with businesses and organizations to market itself as a green destination through its Postive Impact initiative. They have published A Guide to Greening your Event (PDF).

For more information about Manchester’s Positive Impact initiative, contact Fiona Pelham at Fiona@organisethis.co.uk.

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Environment Canada offers both an online tool for planning Green Meetings, and a comprehensive Green Meetings Manual (PDF), complete with advice and checklists for greening your office, planning and running the event, and dealing with vendors and contractors. Complete the online questionaire, and “you will be presented with an appended manual that only includes those portions which are relevent to your meeting planning.”

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Even the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency offers It’s Easy Being Green: A Guide To Planning And Conducting Environmentally Aware Meetings And Events. The guide, which is a bit dated, focuses primarily on waste reduction, but offers a useful check list for event planners.

The EPA also operates a Green Meetings, but the site redirects visitors to the Oceans Blue “Blue Green Meetings” site, discussed above.

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In addition to the free resources above, Meeting Strategies Worldwide, a Portland, Oregon-based company specializing in conference management and consulting, has developed MeetGreen, an online tool that helps planners implement green meeting practices. The calculator is designed to:

Track your conferences’ environmental practices, benchmark the progress and discover areas for improvement. From food and beverage to site selection, the MeetGreen Calculator measures over 95 facets of policy, practices and outcomes . . . showing how your conference ranks in the marketplace and individually.

The MeetGreen Calculator is available for $250 U.S.