Eco-Meetings:
Green By Association

- by Helena Faith Miel, CITE

Reprinted from Corporate & Incentive Travel, April 1996
www.corporate-inc-travel.com

"Run an environmentally friendly meeting?"

"My company doesn't do that." "We barely have time to organize the meetings now without having to add any extra work. Besides, what difference does it make?"

"All this environmental talk is a passing craze and will be obsolete in a year or two."

Even though you may not be consciously planning green meetings and incentive programs, you may be greener than you think. Most hotel chains have environmental initiatives in place, and these policies affect you, your meetings, and the environment, with or without your first-hand knowledge.

Did you ever stop to think about what happens to all the corrugated cardboard boxes you shipped to the hotel after you unpacked and porter took them away? More than likely they are being recycled along with paper, glass, and aluminum.

Thanks to companies like the International Hotels Environmental Initiative (IHEI), Hospitality Valuation Services (HVS), Green Globe and EcoLogical Solutions, hotels are becoming environmentally responsible and by doing so, are reaping financial benefits.

IN THE BEGINNING
In 1991, Inter-Continental Hotels and Resorts became the first hotel chain to issue to all its properties throughout the world an Environmental Operating Manual. The manual targeted such areas as conservation, waste management, purchasing, air emissions and energy conservation all based on the principles of reduce, reuse and recycle.

In 1992, Inter-Continental made the manual available to other hotel companies and it served as the basis of the IHEI, an international network of hotel companies that promotes the improvement of environmental performance in hotels across the world.

But what does this mean to you? "If a company is willing to exert this kind of leadership, it's the type of hotel I want to deal with," says Ed Nelson, meeting planner for the Resource Renewal Institute. Nelson used the Willard Inter-Continental, Washington, DC, for a meeting of the Dutch Environment Ministry and the EPA for an annual meeting for Chevrolet's Geo Division. When choosing a hotel and vendors for a program, Nelson looks for a company that is flexible and dignified in the expression of its environmental commitment. What he found in the Willard was quality, charm and high environmental standards that included note pads made from recycled paper and guest room amenities presented in recycled packaging. Inter-Continental hotels throughout the U.S. also give back to their local communities by donating excess food to local charities, planting trees, and in New York City, recycled soda cans are donated to the "We Can" organization that takes the proceeds from the deposit and donates the money to the homeless.

Another way hotels are greening up is by employing environmental consulting companies such as Tedd Saunders' EcoLogical Solutions and HVS Eco Services. Tedd Saunders, president of EcoLogical and executive vice president and director of environmental affairs for the Saunders Hotel Group, began a comprehensive program at its three Boston hotels in 1989. The Boston Park Plaza, The Lennox and the Copley Square Hotel.

The environmental policies of the hotels affect every department. The Boston Park Plaza recycles 17.8 tons of white and mixed paper a year. So when you trash all that paper after your meeting, it is being recycled whether you ask for it or not. It is rare that a company will select the Lennox or the Boston Park Plaza solely for the environmental programs they have, however, it is an important amenity that puts us above our competition when considered with service, quality and price." Saunders says. "The environmental programs were never intended as a marketing strategy, nevertheless new convention business is acquired as a direct result of the program."

Other clients of EcoLogical Solutions include Harvard University Dining Services, the Trump Taj Mahal Casino, the American Hotel Foundation and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Office of Innovative Technologies.

HVS Eco Services gives the ECOTEL Certification to hotels after a comprehensive operational audit and inspection to determine the hotel's level of environmental responsibility. One of the hotels high on the ECOTEL list is Turnberry Isle Resort & Club, Aventura, FL. What started as a small grass root recycling program through the efforts of one employee, Dorothy Lewis, is now an award-winning program.
The hotel "recycles" more than 150 tons of material each year and save $40,000 a year on disposal costs. This is done through recycling paper, cans, glass, plastics and cardboard, and through finding new uses for things like egg cartons, plastic strawberry containers and even tennis balls.

Lewis has educated her staff to look for new uses for discarded materials. Items left over from a meeting or incentive program such as party favors, pens pencils, writing tablets, flip chart pads, name tag holders, poster boards, plastic dishes, etc., are always welcome items at schools and day care centers.

After the Minwax organization held its meeting and trade show at the hotel, the Turnberry staff gathered 1,425 pounds of metal canisters for recycling and filled 12 large trash bags of Styrofoam packing to be distributed for local use rather than throwing it into the dumpster.

A GLOBAL COMMITMENT
When you work for an organization that sells environmentally friendly products and promotes sustainable trade worldwide, like the Body Shop, you do look at a prospective hotel's environmental policies. Many of the company's attendees are franchise owners and want a green meeting.

Tristan Layton, director of national meeting planning for the Body Shop, says that one of the first places he looks at on site is the kitchen, for its levels of waste and cleanliness. Working with the hotel, he makes sure that any extra food is donated to a local food bank or homeless shelter.

Layton also checks the property for recycling facilities and keeps the use of disposable items to a minimum. "Most adults are quite capable of holding onto a glass without breaking it," he says.
The company goes so far as to use car pooling as the mode of transportation, and it discourages the use of individual rental cars.
The Body Show brings its own products for each attendee and asks the hotel to remove its amenities. This has a dual purpose; it allows the company to internally promote its own products and all the empty amenity bottles can be collected for reuse the next day.

All meeting materials - pens, pencils, paper - are generic so that they can be used at any meeting, and there is no waste. Nametags get a second life as well, the plastic case is returned and the printed card is recycled. "The bottom line is saving on the cost of printed materials and cutting down on paper waste," Layton says.

"The whole point of running an environmentally friendly conference is that it is the combination of all the little things that work together environmentally and add to the bottom line profit," add Layton. "The onus is on the meeting planner doing the conference. All we need to do is ask. The standard of customer service is the U.S. is the best in the world. The conference services manager, the food and beverage manager doesn't have a problem fulfilling our requests, but you've got to ask."

The Body Show recently held a meeting at Robert Redford's Sundance Resort in Utah. "The way Sundance is run is very like minded to the Body Shop. There really seems to be an understanding of being environmentally responsible."

Redford's vision for the resort was to develop very little and preserve a great deal, and he has succeeded. The resort boasts an organic garden and an advanced water-use and sewage system developed by Redford.

Of course, when it comes to eco-friendly meetings, Disney comes to mind. The Walt Disney Company coined the word "environmentality," a term of environmental awareness. Green teams abound at Walt Disney's resorts, parks and hotels; 80 percent of all printed material comes from recycled paper and is printed with soy-based inks; special attention is given to purchasing "green" products (picnic tables and rest room partitions are made from recycled plastic); and all extra food is donated to the local food banks. In 1992, a 28,000-square-foot recycling center was built at the Orlando park and now handles 35 tons of recycled waste a day.

side bar
Simple Steps To An Eco-Friendly Meeting
1. Reduce, reuse, recycle.
2. Ask that extra food be donated to a local homeless shelter or food bank.
3. Recycle/reuse name badges.
4. Use recycled paper with a high post-consumer content and print on both sides.
5. Use glass and china; avoid disposable paper cups, plates and utensils.
6. Car pool or provide group transportation to the meeting site.
7. Establish recycling areas in your on-site office and coordinate pick-up with the hotel conference services department.
8. Use local talent and products whenever possible and consider activities that contribute to the local community.
9. Educate attendees on local customs and traditions.
10. Make sure all partners in the design and delivery of the program practice environmentally friendly operations.

*Winner of the American Hotel & Motel Association's (A&MA) PEARSON AWARD FOR LODGING INDUSTRY JOURNALISM