ILLUSTRATION BY BECI ORPIN / THE JACKY WINTER GROUP

giving back Katie Kervin Sustainable Sustainability

The Sustainable Brands Conference aims to create a zero-waste meeting — but what it leaves behind adds up to a whole lot.

W

hile most environmentally conscious meetings work to lessen their impact on

their host destinations, the Sustain- able Brands Conference and Expo — a four-day event that brings together more than 2,000 brand representatives and sustainability professionals — is focused on leaving something signifi- cant behind. Sustainable Brands, which is dedicated to inspiring and equip- ping businesses to initiate a collective movement toward a sustainable future, deliberately seeks out venues for its meetings that do not currently make green initiatives a priority. “We want to work with the venue to try to get a permanent system in place,” said Mari- anne Condrup, executive producer at Sustainable Brands. Having wrapped its seventh annual “community gathering,” June 3–6 at Paradise Point Resort & Spa in San Diego, Sustainable Brands — for the fourth year in a row — achieved zero- waste status, meaning that it was able to recycle, reuse, divert, or compost all waste created at the event. That would be enough of an accomplishment for many meeting organizers, but Sustain- able Brands hasn’t been solely focused on making its own conference zero waste. For the past two years, it has worked to make Paradise Point more sustainable in order for other confer- ences that follow to lessen their envi- ronmental footprint as well.

SEEING THE POTENTIAL While sourcing a venue for the 2012 conference, organizers found two pos- sible locations: one of which already had many sustainability efforts in place — including composting and locally

38 PCMA CONVENE SEPTEMBER 2013

Coffee Break The Sustainable Brands Conference uses china in- stead of paper coffee cups — with no complaints from attendees.

BREAKOUT

It’s All in the Planning

Planning a zero-waste event is not as expensive as you might think, according to Sustainable Brands’ Marianne Condrup. “I don’t think I can find a line item in my budget,” she said, “that has to do with our sustainability efforts.” Conference planners

sourced food options — and Paradise Point. That property “didn’t really have [green practices] set high on their agenda, but they had a lot of potential,” Condrup said. “That’s one of the things that excites us as an organization — to be able to help people to get better. Our short-term goal is to achieve zero waste for our events specifically, but it’s not exciting if it’s not something that can stay in place at the venue.” Since hosting its first Sustainable

Brands Conference last year, Paradise Point has replaced its water heaters, updated lighting systems, installed a smart irrigation system, and this year is starting work on waste-sorting and -diversion programs. To ensure that an infrastructure

for sustainability efforts remained in place after the conference, Sustain- able Brands worked closely with San Diego’s waste hauler, Waste Manage- ment, to train Paradise Point staff. Waste Management even donated a dumpster to the venue temporarily, until it can afford its own compost compactor. “[Paradise Point] said now their last three [compost] ‘dumps’ have been perfectly clean and 100-percent

“have a big responsibility in re- questing low-impact items,” like china coffee cups or silverware, she said, as opposed to plastic or paper. “There’s no reason to have disposables at an event that has a kitchen with dish- washing capabilities.”

Sustainable Brands also recruits sponsors for the meeting’s sus- tainability initiatives. “Get a coffee sponsor or a coffee-cup sponsor to donate the mugs,” Condrup advised, “and give away mugs as a part of your gift bags.”

She believes that it’s only a matter of time before meeting organizers will start hearing more complaints from attendees at events that do not offer reus- able service ware. “People are going to be like, ‘Wait, why do I have to use a paper cup when I’m just standing here drinking my coffee?’”

ON THE WEB

Learn more about the Sustain- able Brands Conference at sustainablebrands.com.

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