Print this page

Thursday, 8 August 2008

Making any event “green” is a challenge, with many issues to consider but Tour Hosts has been working with 5th World Congress of the Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (SETAC) to conduct audits, measure carbon footprints and trial a number of sustainable alternatives for meeting management.

This is the first SETAC World Congress to be held outside North America and Europe . It brings together over 1000 scientists, regulators and environmental managers from government, academia and industry from 54 countries, in the largest international meeting on environmental issues yet held in Australia .

Knowing the spotlight would be on their own behaviour, SETAC commissioned an environmental audit at their previous World Congress and results will be analysed and compared with the Sydney Congress outcomes to establish their environmental science standards for the future.

Tour Hosts, the current holders of Meetings and Events Australia (MEA) awards for best practice and excellence in meeting and events management, has put into operation the environmental objectives and outcomes of SETAC’s 5th World Congress. This is an ever increasing request from all clients and meeting participants to reduce the impact on the environment for the business events.

“This Congress experience has enabled our team to gain insight into finding green solutions that are practical for our clients, fit budgets and achieve tangible outcomes. Our value as a PCO is how we share this new learning with our future clients. It was rewarding to work with SETAC organisation as they have the scientist expertise focused on creating environmental efficient practices.” said Tour Hosts Managing Director, Roslyn McLeod.

Some of the initiatives included recycled delegate services materials such as name badges, envelopes and program books, brochures and signage used electronically where possible, canvass satchels printed using water based ink, reducing the number of reprinted stationery given out to attendees, abstracts available only on CD Rom printed on recycled card, ozharvest used to redistribute fresh food to those in need, recycled waste, reusable cups and cutlery and the event is powered by Greenpower accredited energy. All of these initiatives have been carefully researched and audited and not “green washed”.