Conference & Meetings World Issue 101 — July / August | Page 29
Sustainability
The morning after
PAUL COLSTON STAYS ON IN FRANKFURT TO WITNESS FIRST-HAND THE SUSTAINED GREEN
APPROACH BY IMEX AND ITS VENUE PARTNERS ‘AFTER THE LORD MAYOR’S SHOW’
MEX Frankfurt 2019 was
as busy as ever when the
industry converged on the
city for the three-day show,
and for the extra EduMonday, too. The
traditional Asparagus Festival was in
town, too, but they were not the only
green shoots showing. CMW stayed on an
extra day, after the Lord Mayor’s Show of
the main event, to see some of the hard
work behind the organisers’ reputation for
leading the way towards greener
tradeshow practices and sustainable waste
management.
Surveying a wasteland of stand detritus
left the morning after the night before, I
ask IMEX COO Nalan Emre about the
huge clearing up and breakdown effort.
She highlighted three big claims
immediately:
• Zero waste from the show is sent to
landfill.
• The show is 100% hydro-powered
(which is carbon neutral)
• Messe Frankfurt have recently
announced that from 2020 they will use
renewable energy for all their events.
Aside from the zero to landfill, Emire
notes that 90% of the waste is recycled
and the remaining 10% incinerated in the
vicinity with the resultant energy
supplying a local community.
The IMEX management first started
using hydro power itself back in 2006, and
now that practice is universal across the
show. “We took away the regular option
in 2017, so all exhibitors had to use the
hydro power option. It is slightly more
expensive but we didn’t experience any
pushback,” says Emre. “In 2018, this led to
a CO2 saving of 148.8 tonnes compared to
a conventional electricity mix,” she notes.
There is also a method in the
breakdown madness, with items left
beside stands for collection, while
materials within the stand footprint to be
collected by the constructors, of whom
there are 120 companies.
“We ask the contractors to take away
all their own materials and we ask
exhibitors to donate any leftover
giveaways, paper, etc. There has been a
significant reduction in what is left over as
a result,” says Emre.
What have been some of the more
surprising items left behind, I ask?
“Laptops, iPads, a whole range of
things really, even a hearing aid once!”
Again, although the breakdown
scenario may look a mess on an industrial
scale, there is tight security with only
accredited people allowed access to what
was the show floor.
“From the first day on every entrance is
manned by security,” notes Emre. “In fact
the security has been increased to meet
the heightened alerts of our time.”
Not to mention undercover security,
sniffer dogs and a system of bag checks.
“This year we didn’t print any
delegate bags,” adds Emre. She says the
ones used previously were sustainable but
still represented waste. Sustainability does
not always come cheap: Emre puts the
economic impact of ditching the bags and
their sponsorship opportunity at around
€12k. “Last year we also had printed
catalogues and we got rid of that this time
and extended the thinner show guide.
That saved several tonnes of paper.” There
were also savings on PVC, card, wood and
carpet.
Another initiative on the show floor,
Emre explains, is the refill campaign for
water. “We asked exhibitors to put water
coolers around the showfloor instead of
single use plastic bottles, and to let their
contacts know. This year we built on just
the few we had in 2018,” she says.
IMEX published a report of its 2018
show sustainability highlights which
included the following key statistics:
• 8,828 show visitors (all hosted buyers
and trade visitors)
• 3,500 exhibiting companies from 160+
countries
• 45,552sqm of exhibition space
• 1,952 badges collected
• All hosted buyer flights offset (thanks to
a partnership with Cost Rica Tourism)
• 100 kg of material and furniture
donations
• 90.2% waste diversion achieved
• Zero waste sent to landfill
• €3,000 gifted to local non-profit
organisations in Frankfurt
The venue is actively partnering with
IMEX for the future, too, with Messe
Frankfurt commiting to providing 100%
renewable energy for all its customers
from 2020.
There are also some ‘soft power’
touches with visitors to IMEX being
encouraged to use public transport to and
from the show and offered a walking map
to navigate the city by foot. And where
IMEX provides bus
transfers there is now
an anti-idling policy.
Bio-diesel is used for
20% of hosted buyer bus
transfers.
ISSUE 101
/
All hosted
buyer flights
offset (thanks to
a partnership
with Cost Rica
Tourism)
100kg
of material and
furniture
donations
90.2%
waste diversion
achieved
Zero
waste sent to
landfill
€3,000
gifted to local
non-profit
organisations in
Frankfurt
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