Wednesday, June 8, 2011

And The Winner Is...

photo of 2010 Canada Media Marketplace for MeetGreen
The IMEX/GMIC Green Meetings Small to Medium Meeting Award went to Canada Media Marketplace for its 2010 San Francisco conference. 2010 marks the third year of Canada Media Marketplace’s event sustainability initiative. With each year this event has taken additional steps to balance the triple bottom line of people, planet and profit.

Notable sustainability achievements for Canada Media Marketplace 2010 include:

• Destination selection based on sustainability criteria, which resulted in moving the west coast event from Los Angeles to San Francisco. In addition to meeting sustainability goals this also aligned with improving accessibility for media attendees and reducing overall air travel.
• Ensuring 100% of event contracts included explicit sustainability requirements, up from 66% in 2009.
• Eliminated ground transportation by designing a walkable event neighborhood, with receptions held near the Marketplace venue.
• 64% of waste diverted from landfill through composting and recycling - the event’s best diversion yet! This kept over 3 tons of waste from landfill.
• Minimum 60% of menu items purchased within 100 miles of San Francisco for all functions, exceeding 70% local food items for the opening reception. Another record!
• 25% of food provided was certified organic, with an additional 50% purchased from farms that practice organic agriculture.
• Donating left over materials, including furniture, food, soaps and amenities to local charities in San Francisco through the hotel non-profit collaborative and Food Runners. Since 2008 Media Marketplace has provided close to $5000 in donated materials to charity.
• 100% of venue energy and media travel was offset. This amounted to just over 83 tons of greenhouse gas emissions.

Congratulations to all, it was a well deserved honor. Shawna McKinley, MeetGreen Project Manager, applauds Sally Petrigac, On the Mark Productions and Melinda Wunder, Creative Conventions, for their vital roles in the sustainable 2010 Event.

The full case study can be found here http://www.meetgreen.com/files/articles/MediaMarketplace2010CaseStudy.pdf

1 comment:

Unknown said...

100 percent sustainablilty in contracts is impressive