The Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre has won the prestigious ‘Best Environmental Supplier Award’ at the Asia Pacific’s premier event for the business events industry. The coveted AIME 2008 Awards recognise the best in the business.

The MCEC was presented the award for its efforts towards ensuring AIME was a climate neutral event, in particular through its recycling efforts, which this year is expected to reduce the amount of timber products disposed to landfill by 50%.

The accolade comes just weeks after the MCEC’s new Convention Centre was awarded a ‘6 Star Green Star’ environmental rating, the first in the world for a convention centre.

Opening for business in 2009, the new centre is the centrepiece of a A$1.4 billion development project in South Wharf in central Melbourne.

The ‘6 Star Green Star’ environmental rating was awarded by the Green Building Council of Australia (GBCA) under its Green Star – Convention Centre rating tool for the convention centre’s innovative environmental design and operational features.

The design of the new Melbourne Convention Centre was put through a rigorous ratings process and confirmed as having world leadership status.

Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre chief executive Leigh Harry says the awards recognise the efforts the centre has gone to to ensure it’s environmentally responsible.  

"As a team we are dedicated to ensuring our business is conducted in an environmentally friendly way - this covers everything from the way we recycle and/or dispose of waste to how we educate our clients to ensure they too are thinking about the environment in the way they run their meetings, events or conferences."