How Green is Your Meeting?

G.G.'s alter ego and a couple of the other VFg3 sales reps recently returned from hosting a meeting where they took the first steps to making the event green. Rather than serving bottled water (in plastic bottles which will never decompose in a landfill), pitchers were available with glasses (vs. plastic). Linens, china and silverware were used throughout the meeting, even during the outdoor picnic.

Having a green meeting is easy and can start with small steps. Luckily, the meetings industry has several resources to reference and examples in the industry to follow:

Green Meeting Industry Council - Simply put, this organization provides the tools and information to plan a green meeting. Their 2020 envision of a green meeting includes: green is the new black, er, brown and is an acceptable and standard industry practice along with having a zero net environmental effect. GMIC is a great resource for meeting planners want to plan green meetings.

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Green Meetings - There seems to be negative connotation when government gets into the private sector's business but this is good, really. The EPA has adopted the Green Meetings Initiative, which was developed and supported by the organization's Pollution Prevention Division. The initiative provides resources for planning a green meeting.

PCMA - the 51st PCMA Annual Meeting (Jan. 2007 in Toronto) was the organization's first zero-waste annual meeting. The annual meeting usually generates 90,000 cans or bottles, 75,000 cups, 87,5000 napkins and 62,500 plates (that's a heap o' trash!). Through zero-waste efforts, 98.5 % of the potential trash was diverted from landfills. Mucho kudos to the staff at the Metro Toronto Convention Center. Hope the 2008 conference will have the same or better results.

Meetings and Conventions magazine - received Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification, which means the recycled paper M&C prints on originates from responsibly managed forests through the paper mill process. Follow M&C's lead and look for the FSC label when purchasing paper products.

BlueGreen Meetings - provides resources for having a green meeting. BlueGreen Meetings is an initiative by Oceans Blue Foundation, an environmental charitable group conserving coastal environments through environmentally responsible tourism. The organization develops best practices for all sectors of the tourism industry.

And these, my friends, are just the tip of the iceberg. There are many, many, many more resources out there to add a little or boat load of green to your meeting. If it's seems overwhelming, just start with the basics. After all, one eats an elephant piece by piece.