More than 3,000 delegates attended PCMA’s 51st Annual Meeting last month in Toronto, an event that typically would generate a mountain of trash to feed our continent’s hungry landfills.
Along with all the promotional trinkets, paper items ranging from seminar materials to coffee cups, and a petrochemical buffet of plastic goods serving contemporary needs large and small, the convention, like any big show of its kind, no doubt produced tons of food waste that would typically meet an unceremonious end being shuttled out of sight and mind from the convention center’s loading docks.
This convention was different, however, in that PCMA, with the Metro Toronto Convention Centre, combined to generate a “zero-waste” event.
Along with being PCMA’s first international Annual Meeting, the 51st version of the show also was the first time the association endeavored to such lofty “green” principles for its biggest event of the year, and progressive Toronto, with all of its recycling facilities, was the perfect location to test-run the effort.
Besides the somewhat standard method of substituting recycling containers for most of the waste bins in the facility, PCMA also had the convention center use clear plastic bags in any remaining waste bins and hired on independent recycling and waste removal company Turtle Island Recycling to actually monitor the loading docks to make sure no garbage made it out unprocessed.
All food waste was either turned into compost or, if possible, donated to local charities to feed those in need.
The effort, which included the removal of trash compactors at the convention center just to make sure everything was on the up-and-up, cost up to $50,000 to pull off, and undoubtedly wasn’t perfect—many attendees weren’t sure of exactly what bins were supposed to receive what—but it was a wonderful start.
Besides creating memories, facilitating face-to-face communication and oiling the machinery of organizational efficiency, our industry generates an embarrassing amount of waste that accompanies all of the positivity, so it’s great to see one of the preeminent organizations begin to tackle the problem.
On a housekeeping note, I’d like to welcome veteran meetings industry journalist Maria Lenhart to our team as senior editor. Maria has written for or held senior editor positions at most all of the major meetings industry trade magazines you’re familiar with, and because of her stellar resume brings a wealth of experience to the table.
I’m proud to have such a dedicated, professional editorial staff that makes sure I don’t wander too far off into non sequitur land. Tough job.
Enjoy our February issue, and make sure to send an e-mail to let us know how we’re doing, or if you have a tip to share with your fellow planners or a bone to pick with the industry.
Thanks for reading, and make sure to recycle this magazine after you’re done. I’ll get to work on the pile of paper on my desk, too—promise (sort of)!
