CSR Tip of the Week

In association with MPI, Positive Impact, a not-for profit organisation delivering sustainability education in the events industry, will be offering an Inspire Mark free educational workshop at International Confex on the 7th March (2-5pm).

It will be a great opportunity to hear David Stubbs, Head of Sustainability at London 2012 speak, and to understand how the legacy of sustainability will continue beyond 2012.

Also presenting will be Mervyn Jones from EPOW (European Pathway to Zero Waste) who will be explaining the latest developments relating to the sustainable event industry roadmap, and the resource management plan tool.

The event is free but you will need to register first.

This year’s EIBTM is demonstrating leadership and best practice around Sustainability in the event industry. Some of the initiatives they have as part of their stakeholder engagement includes 20 Sustainable Actions that exhibitors can sign up to, and a dedicated sustainability area featuring leading industry experts sharing best practice and inspirational ideas on how to make events more sustainable. There will be an award for the most sustainable exhibitor stand and a case study of the event’s sustainability will be produced so that others can see how sustainability can be adopted.

EIBTM have collaborated with Positive Impact in relation to sustainability for this year’s event, check out the EIBTM webpage at:

http://www.eibtm.com/page.cfm/Link=21/nocache=03112011

To find out more information, please see the following article on Meetings Review:

http://meetingsreview.com/news/2011/11/24/Sustainable_EIBTM_spreads_best_green_practice_among_visitors_and_exhibitors

Don’t be shy give it a try…

Anybody who has been around young children will be aware of their seemingly limitless quest for knowledge and explanations. “Why?” is their mantra.

As adults, we often become more accepting of the status quo. This is how things are, and nothing can be done about it so there is no point in even trying. But what if we started learning from the enquiring minds of toddlers? What if we started asking “why?” in relation to sustainability challenges in the events industry?

Take some of these typical sustainability challenges that an event organiser or venue might face:

1. Attendees are driving to an event and not using public transport or the shuttle bus provided.

2. Delegates are contaminating the recycling streams by putting waste in the wrong bins.

3. Suppliers are sending food in plastic packaging which is hard to recycle.

4. The local community do not engage with your communications.

Let’s now imagine what some of the responses could be if you were to ask “why?” after each statement, and a simple step that could be taken for each to overcome the challenge.

1. Attendees love the opportunity to socialise and go for a quick drink after the event and the shuttle buses don’t run late enough. Solution: add a later shuttle bus.

2. The bins are a different colour to their household recycling and they don’t notice the signs. Solution: add large pictures or change the colour of the bins to make the correct categories more obvious.

3. Because that’s the way it has always been done. Solution: request less packaging or alternatives to plastic e.g. cardboard.

4. The local community is mainly an elderly population and they don’t read the emails that are sent out. Solution: engage with them in more appropriate ways such as notices in community centres or attendance at local meetings. 

Now, these are examples of hypothetical situations, but the point is that you don’t know the reasons for lack of engagement until you ask. So act like a three year old and next time you face a challenge, ask “why?”.

Probably best not to keep asking “are we nearly there yet?” though. 

A couple of weeks ago I was presenting at AIBTM in Baltimore and some of the hosted buyers, exhibitors and speakers were lucky enough to be able to attend a U2 concert during the stay. Being the sustainability geek that I am, of course I was looking at the event from a perspective of environmental, social and economic activity.

Environmentally, U2’s 360 degree tour has been criticised for its carbon emissions, in particular the giant alien-spaceship-claw structure that dominated the stage which required transportation of epic proportions. The giant (movable) screens and pyrotechnics would also have needed to be transported, as well as using resources for production and energy in their use.

Socially and economically, however, the concert was a great demonstration of how an event can inspire, educate and bring financial benefits to the area. Local Baltimore news outlets were reporting how local businesses were benefiting as the audience arrived into the city prior to the event, and a proportion of them will have extended their stay beyond the one evening.

The group also promoted a number of causes and in particular Amnesty International, involving volunteers from the campaign as part of the performance. This will have raised awareness of a number of important issues to the 80,000 people in the stadium, some of whom will have been spurred into taking action as a result. Events have a fantastic way of cascading information and ideas out to those who attend, with significant benefits to society and communities.

Can your event inspire others? What can the delegates take away that they can then share with the people that they then talk to? Remember that sustainability is about more than the environmental performance.

Nowadays most people are aware that a simple way to save money and reduce their environmental impact is by using less paper. Think about the offices at your organisation and the paper that is produced there. Could it be reduced? 

Most modern printers are able to print double sided as a standard setting (and if yours doesn’t then look for this feature if the printer is being replaced) which will immediately halve your printed paper use if you currently print on one side only. 

Why not try having a ‘no printing’ day where the printers are switched off for a day? Or if that idea sends you into a cold sweat then maybe start with just an afternoon or a couple of hours. This doesn’t have to be every week and if you have any environmental focus weeks or days, for example, this would be the perfect time to get the ball rolling. Small steps and creating new habits can have a dramatic result in the long term. Here at Positive Impact we have a paperless office and it’s fantastic! 

For the documents that you do need to print, do you use recycled paper? If not then could you consider switching? The quality has improved dramatically over the years, and you could ask for a few test reams to try out before committing to bulk orders. If you are unable to use recycled, then do ensure that your paper has come from a responsible source. FSC certified products are often thought of as applying to wood products but of course sustainably managed forests are relevant to paper too, so look for their logo on the paper and cardboard that you buy.

Have you heard about the bees? No it’s not a joke, all over the world bees are disappearing and nobody really knows why.

Bees are disappearing and dying all over the world, and no-one knows quite why. Why does this matter? Well, approximately one third of what we eat is pollinated by bees (source: Vanishing of the Bees) and through this bees contribute £200 million a year to the UK economy. Not a bad effort!

You can find out more about what is happening to bees in the UK here and if that inspires you then you could consider screening the Vanishing of the Bees film at an event, or to your staff and stakeholders. More information and licensing details can be found here.

What else can you do? If you have land that you can use to grow bee friendly plants or create a wildlife garden then this is a perfect opportunity to involve staff and other stakeholders. You could invite a local school or community group to help – or depending on the nature of your event, even give delegates a chance to get their hands dirty!

If you don’t have much space, then could you build a bee hotel? You can also buy ready made ones if DIY isn’t your thing from the Kew Gardens website or Greenfingers website.

Last week whilst talking with someone about helping to implement sustainability, the subject of recycling came up. This venue has an enormous sign (seriously, it’s big) pointing to the recycling station plus there’s more detailed information by the bins themselves. Many of the people using and accessing the building are students and young people, a group generally considered to be fairly aware of recycling and environmental issues.

However, staff are consistently finding that waste is being placed either in the wrong bin for recycling (risking contamination) or into the general waste destined for landfill. So what is it that prevents people from taking that final step? Well, it could be a number of reasons.

Are the bins a different colour scheme to those used for household recycling collections? Here in Manchester it’s blue for card and paper, brown for glass, foil and plastic bottles. It’s funny how easily a brain can get conditioned into associating colours with things (just look at brands and advertising for proof of that). Is there enough information? Or is there too much information? In a hurry is it easy to work out what each bin is for? Are there clear images for those who don’t have English as a first language (or for children and those with learning difficulties or sight problems)?

The questions could go on. The important thing is to be asking questions. You could send an electronic survey round to users or departments and most people might even respond (especially if there is a competition). But you could also get creative! Why not contact a local school and get the pupils to do the work for you? A child with a clipboard and some questions by some bins is much less intimidating and engaging than an adult (plus they’ll often ask the questions adults either don’t think of or don’t dare to). You will also be engaging with the community and helping to raise awareness amongst the younger generations. Win-Win.

No, it’s not a typo.

You know about recycling. You’ve probably heard Reduce, Reuse, Recycle so many times it’s replaced Reading, Writing and Arithmetic as the Three Rs (although that always seemed a bit forced anyway, at least these all actually start with R).

So how often do you Precycle?

Precycling is the counterpart to the (modern) Three Rs and essentially it involves considering the end of a product’s life before you purchase it – or even manufacture it – so you are preventing waste before it happens.

It is easy to fall into the trap of waiting until the product is no longer necessary before considering whether it can be reused or recycled. Instead, check what options are available for disposal before you purchase the product. Include the packaging of the product in your precycling too as sometimes this can generate more waste than the products themselves.

This is also a great opportunity to engage with local community groups or schools who might be interested in buying the items second-hand from you, or receiving them as a donation. Contact them before purchasing to establish their needs. That way you’ll have potential buyers lined up, and even if you donate, at least you won’t have to pay to have the items collected.

Did you see the Earth Hour before and after pictures? If not then they are well worth a look, check out the Guardian’s selection here:

Guardian Earth Hour in Pictures

and National Geographic have some here:

National Geographic Earth Hour in Pictures

It just shows what a difference everyone working together can make.

Impressive as it is, not every light is off in each photo. Does this mean that Earth Hour was a failure? Of course not! The campaign led to hundreds of millions of people switching their lights off, raised awareness of climate change, and motivated people to pledge their actions towards creating a more sustainable way of living.

Similarly, when thinking about reducing energy use within your event or venue, focus on the successes that you can achieve and don’t be disheartened if you don’t achieve all your goals at once. BS 8901, the British Standard for sustainability in the events industry, recognises that there may be some factors you cannot change, or that you may not have the capacity to address all issues at once. It allows you to set your own scope for the implementation of a sustainability management system, so for example you may wish to start by just focusing on one event. Within that scope, you can identify issues that are most relevant to you, and that you have the most control over.

As you implement more sustainability measures, celebrate your achievements and recognise the positive impacts that they have had, no matter how small.

Did you switch off during Earth Hour? Let us know and share your stories and photos!

This week is Climate Week and Saturday 26th March at 8:30 pm (local time) is Earth Hour. Hundreds of countries, thousands of businesses and millions of individuals will be turning off their lights for an hour to symbolise the fight against climate change. This year, the organisers (WWF) are asking people to “go beyond the hour” by pledging to take action and make a difference. You can then share your pledge via their website and see what others are doing. To find out more visit http://www.earthhour.org and http://www.beyondthehour.org/.

What will you pledge? You could create a “switch it off” campaign to raise awareness amongst employees about turning off lights, computers and other equipment when not needed and at the end of the day. Make sure you clarify what should always be left on and what can be turned off, and an easy way to communicate this is to identify anything that should not be turned off with a sticker or coloured dot.

If you use a lot of lighting then switching to energy efficient LED bulbs could save you money on electricity bills. Armadillo Low Energy Solutions are just one supplier of LED lights but their website has some useful indications of benefits and potential savings as well as case studies: http://www.armadilloled.com.

We’ve talked about renewables in the last two posts and energy suppliers. If you are considering switching your energy provider then you might find www.ecoswitch.com useful. They are a ‘green’ independent comparison site, for example taking into account how much of each supplier’s electricity is made up of renewables. It shows that Good Energy, for example, are the only provider supplying 100% renewable energy. On the other hand, Ecotricity invest substantially in wind turbines to increase the amount of renewable energy available so you may need to decide which option suits your organisation’s aims and objectives.