Meetings and events tend to generate a significant amount of waste.  There are invitations, papers, forms, display boards, name tags, signs, souvenirs, decorations, place settings, etc.  You do not have to give up all of these to go green and reduce waste.

The Green Meetings Industry Council is trying to build awareness towards the goal of reducing waste generated by meetings and events.  According to their study, the average meeting/event creates 20 pounds of waste per person per day.  With 700 million event attendees annually in the U.S. and Canada, that brings the total up to 10.5 tons of waste per year.  GMIC started the Million Tons of Trash Challenge to attempt to reduce that amount of waste by nearly 10 percent.

The GMIC is hoping that this challenge will educate the industry about being more environmentally-friendly and that we will be able to see more improvements in the future.  GMIC is encouraging the efforts with a new web site that includes case studies, a blog, and a Waste Challenge Trash Calculator to record the amount of waste generated and determine the amount of waste reduced.  This helps to see the effects of your green efforts.  To be a part of this challenge, planners must report to the GMIC the amount of waste that they generated at their events, as well as the amount reduced and recycled.  By taking these small steps to reduce waste, you can do your part to help the environment while still putting on a successful and memorable meeting/event.

MeetGreen, along with Meeting Professionals International (MPI) and the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA), is also trying to promote more environmentally-friendly meetings and events.  They created “Eco-Event Zones” as a part of their new program.  The purpose of this is for meeting/event planners from the same city to work together to find eco-friendly opportunities in the same area and share advice. If planners are working together on this, suppliers and building locations will be hearing their requests for more green options, which will create a greater impact.

Meetings and events can produce a lot of waste, but it doesn’t have to be that way!  These programs have been created to help educate meeting and event planners on how to reduce waste.  One great way is using eco-friendly name badges and bag tags that are 100% recyclable for your meeting or event.  We all can do our part to help the environment by making small changes.  Read more about being environmentally-friendly.

Both Jackie and I are taking vacations soon, so Jackie found a list of ways to travel Green.

Want to reduce your carbon footprint and help the environment while you travel, but think it is much too expensive to pay carbon offset fees or buy expensive, recycled suitcases: Think again. Sarah Schlichter provided “Eight ways green travel can save you money“.

1. Pack light.The more bags you pack and the heavier that they are, will increase the amount of fuel needed, whether you are driving or flying. By packing less, you will reduce the amount of carbon emissions and save money on gas if you are driving. The fewer bags you pack while flying will reduce your baggage fees. Don’t forget to use eco-friendly bag tags.
2. Borrow guidebooks.Not only will borrowing guidebooks/maps from a friend or the library save you money on purchasing them, but you are reducing waste and reusing resources.
3. Buy reusable travel-size bottles.Instead of buying new travel-sized bottles of all your toiletries each time you go on a trip, buy one set of travel-sized bottles that you can reuse and refill with your own shampoo, conditioner, sunscreen, etc. Not only are you saving money by buying your items in bulk, but you are reducing the amount of travel-sized bottles that will be thrown in a landfill.
4. Don’t rent a car. Not only are they expensive to rent, but they release carbon emissions. Try walking, biking, or using public transportation instead. It’s cheaper, healthier, and better for the environment.
5. If you must, rent a small car or a hybrid. Smaller cars are more fuel-efficient, which means less money spent on gas and less carbon emissions released.
6. Prepare your car. If you are taking a road trip, make sure that your car is prepared, so that you are as fuel-efficient as you can be. Take all the extra things you don’t need out of your trunk, check your tires, and make sure your engine is tuned up.
7. Buy local. Wherever you are, buy local food and goods. Visit farmer’s markets and buy souvenirs from local artisans. By not having to be shipped in, they could be cheaper and have a smaller carbon footprint.
8. Bring your own reusable water bottle. According to the Sierra Club, billions of plastic water bottles end up in the landfills every year. From there, they take up to 1,000 years to decompose. You can reduce waste tremendously by using a water bottle that you can simply just wash and reuse. Plus, it’s free to fill your bottle with water! If you are in an area with bad water, buy a large jug of purified water to keep in your room. It is cheaper to buy in bulk, and it uses less packaging.

Whether you are going on a business trip or a vacation like Jackie and me, these are some helpful tips to save money and be environmentally-friendly at the same time. For business trips, give your company an added touch with matching

It’s been a while since we’ve featured a post on eco-friendly products, so I thought I’d tell you about one of our newest clients who are very passionate about our environment – Green Earth Construction Group out of Tampa, Florida.

Their name says it all. They build residential and commercial buildings using environmentally-friendly methods and materials.

Don’t forget: Sunrise offers a recycling “take-back” program for all products that we make. Once you are done using it, you can send any product we make back to us and we will break it down to its component parts to be recycled.

These environmentally-friendly name tags made from cardboard are beautiful!

Recently, they hosted a symposium on green construction and they wanted their event to be as environmentally friendly as possible. That’s why they decided to use our eco-friendly name badges

The name tags are made from recycled chipboard and steel magnets. The name badges are beautifully printed using dry toner on a digital printer which is part of Sunrise’s vibrant recycling program. The name tags can be taken home and re-used, kept as a memento, or both parts can be detached from each other and recycled.

For more information on Green Earth Construction Group or for dates of upcoming symposiums, contact Virginia Grabowski at 813.241.0222

• On the web: greenearthgroup.net
• On the phone: 813-241-0222
• Direct phone: 813 579-0018 direct