REPORT – IMEX 2006 – FRANKFURT: Leading green meeting planner, Amy Spatrisano, explained that following a simple five-step plan and not trying to be 100% perfect was the easiest way to start with green meetings. Spatrisano, who is…
REPORT – IMEX 2006 – FRANKFURT: Leading green meeting planner, Amy Spatrisano, explained that following a simple five-step plan and not trying to be 100% perfect was the easiest way to start with green meetings. Spatrisano, who is President of IMEX’s Corporate Social Responsibility partners, The Green Meetings Industry Council and also Director of US-based Meeting Strategies Worldwide told a large seminar group that simply changing to a water dispenser rather than using individual bottles of water had saved one of her clients 25,000 US dollars over three days. She urged planners to recognise that clients seldom buy in to environmental targets for the sake of saving the planet but that they are motivated by the business case and cost savings.
Spatrisano explained that the key to success is discussing environmental objectives early on in the planning process and with as many of the supplier’s management teams as possible. “Hotel chefs, for example, are often delighted by the creative challenge of using local, seasonal and organic food so encourage them to use their imagination. The food will taste a lot better and that means less overall waste too.”
She pointed out that other measures such as towel reuse programmes and running transport vehicles on biodiesel fuels are simply a matter of changing the way people work, not incurring any fresh costs on equipment.
The audience was interested to learn that all waste paper, plastics and other materials generated during IMEX are mechanically or manually sorted and recycled, with just 15% which cannot be reused, sent for incineration.
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