The events industry has been buzzing about sustainability. According to a new report, in 2021 IMEX hosted its most environmentally friendly show to date. Their recently released report offers very positive data that make us at Attendee Interactive even more excited to exhibit at the free Mandalay Bay Resort event in October.
IMEX America, the largest US trade show for global meetings, events, and incentive travel industry, prides itself on successful efforts to minimize its events’ environmental impact. MeetGreen, a certified women-owned sustainable event management agency that conducts net zero emissions business, produced the independent report and awarded their highest level of achievement — Visionary – to IMEX, based on the MeetGreen Calculator 2.0.
Furthermore, the 2021 Sustainable Event Report benchmarks every IMEX America edition against industry best practices such as the Event Industry Council’s Sustainable Event Standards. Below you’ll find highlights from the report and specific ways that Attendee Interactive is also contributing to positive environmental efforts.
IMEX Sustainability Goal
“Nature’ was the talking point for IMEX America 2021. After the unprecedented challenges faced by the events industry since our last in-person meeting in September 2019, the characteristics of resilience and recovery modeled by our natural world seem to resonate more than ever this year. Wherever we look, Mother Nature inspires our event to operate with greater circularity, intention, and integration.”
- Educate attendees, exhibitors and hosted buyers about sustainable best practices
- Measure and decrease the show’s Environmental Footprint
- Give back to the destination communities
- Increase IMEX’s alignment with sustainable event standards
IMEX 2021 Accomplishments
According to the report:
- 95% landfill diversion rate, the highest to date. This — along with recycling, composting, and donation efforts — meant the show achieved the industry threshold for a “zero-waste event.”
- Single-use plastic reduction, which is a high priority at IMEX America, was a success. According to Mandalay Bay’s consumption records, reusable water refill stations at IMEX America saved an estimated 4,436 standard PET water bottles. In addition, the 7,573 aluminum bottles utilized from concession outlets totaled 12,009 PET plastic water bottles eliminated for 2021.
- 143kg of event food recovered and donated; 795 vegetarian entrees sold, saving an estimated 5,040 kg of carbon emissions when compared to meat main courses
- 100% of convention center carbon emissions offset, neutralizing fossil fuel energy, natural gas, and general contractor services supporting IMEX America onsite
- 150,992 kWh was powered by renewable solar energy directly generated by MGM Resorts, which is equivalent to eliminating the fossil fuel emissions from 53,647 kg of coal burned
Alos, there are many more statistics in the full report here: IA21_Sustainability_Report.pdf (imexamerica.com)
Potential IMEX initiatives and opportunities for 2022
However, as successful as IMEX America 2021 was in terms of sustainability, they continue to strive for improvement.
Waste Reduction
- Explore the feasibility of expanding use of 100% cardboard paper board in place of Sintra or BubbleX for applicable kick-panel and hardball applications to reduce PET substrates and increase recyclability
- Streamline and reduce menu options to further reduce food waste
- Provide show-floor bins during move-out for discarded wire-frame fabric from exhibitors and pair with a potential upcycling opportunity to extend this material’s use
- Leverage “promoted-post features” on event app to communicate donation program opportunities
Carbon
- Assess feasibility of expanding sustainability and carbon offset sponsorship options
Attendee Engagement
- Continue to build awareness and enrollment in People & Planet Village sustainability opportunities as well as emerging topics such lower emissions food and beverage
Attendee Interactive is proud to provide over 20 years of experience with cutting-edge conference management and CME accreditation software to clients worldwide. Our solutions empower event organizers to utilize better processes and eliminate the need to print tracking spreadsheets and compile costly printed mailings. This is a direct reduction of environmentally-costly plant materials and industrial waste. Although our focus is creating more manageable, appealing, and usable content to organize learning and education programs, we are also thrilled to offer more sustainable options for in-person, hybrid, and even virtual events.
Meet with us at IMEX 2022 on October 11 to learn how to streamline your planning with event technology for speaker and abstract management, credit issuance and claiming, reporting, event logistics management, and more!
