LAS VEGAS — IMEX released its 2023 IMEX America Sustainability Report, which reveals how it delivered a zero-waste event — defined as an event where at least 90% of the overall waste is composted or recycled — for the fifth year in a row.
According to Roger Lehner, Senior Operations & Sustainability Executive at IMEX, sustainability has been a priority since the event launched in 2011.
“We worked really hard, all the time, to measure our event’s waste and to improve the percentage that we can avoid going into landfills. It has been a long journey, but we’re very proud that we are now, five years in a row, having a zero-waste event.”
How the IMEX Team Did It
IMEX America was held at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center in 2023. More than 90% of its waste was diverted from landfills into organics, material recycling and donation channels. The show donated approximately 9,998 pounds of recovered event materials, office supplies and furniture to people in need in Clark County, and 200 pounds of the event’s food was rescued for donation to the Las Vegas community. More than 16,000 single-use plastic bottles were eliminated through plastic reduction initiatives too.
Ninety percent of IMEX America 2023’s printed signage and banners were returned to inventory, recycled or donated and 88% of its carpet was returned to inventory for reuse.
IMEX also supplemented waste sorting at the event with manual sorting to make sure that it recycled the maximum amount of waste and is challenging suppliers to shift materials that are not yet recyclable into more sustainable options.
Additionally, IMEX America 2023 reported a 42% decrease in energy consumption, despite a 25% increase in attendance. Around 30% of the event was powered by renewable electricity from MGM Resorts’ Mega Solar Array, reducing around 95.5 metric tons of event emissions.
IMEX also encourages buyers and attendees to sign up for its People and Planet Pledge and commit to several specific sustainability actions. At the event, those supporting the pledge can collect a ribbon to display their participation.
“We believe events can really play a very big role in addressing the various crises that our planet is facing and, as an event for the meetings and events industry … we want to lead the way in the sustainability of events, and that’s why we also produce our reports and share our practices,” Lehner said. “It’s also what people are expecting from us. The vast majority of people coming to IMEX, they do expect our event to be run in a sustainable way.”
Related. ASM Global Signs the Net Zero Carbon Events Pledge, Boosting its Sustainability Initiatives
IMEX America 2024
IMEX America 2024 will be held October 8-10 and include a wealth of new sustainability features.
IMEX is bringing its partnership with Cloverly, a carbon offsetting service the organization worked with for the first time in Frankfurt this year, to IMEX America.
Attendees can use their IMEX account to see their estimated carbon footprint and offset it by investing in a selection of carbon credits, two of which are based in North America. They can choose an individual project or select IMEX’s portfolio, which mixes them together. One option is a biochar project.
“Biochar is considered kind of the gold standard of carbon offsetting … Normally, these projects are really quite expensive … but because of the portfolio, we’re able to offer them at a blended price,” Lehner shared.
The IMEX team is offsetting their travel to the show as well.
The show is also launching an Event Carbon Management Starter Pack, created with TRACE by isla, a new toolkit that shares carbon management principles and ways to reduce an event’s carbon footprint. The resource will be available for download at IMEX America’s isla booth and TRACE’s team will host education sessions exploring carbon measurement and more at the event.
IMEX America will not offer beef or lamb in its F&B this year, due to their large carbon emissions when compared to other meats or meat-alternatives. Additionally, its badge holders will be made from craft paper for the first time to reduce plastic use.
Also, the show is piloting a new Better Stands Initiative, which was incorporated at IMEX Frankfurt this year, moving away from single-use booths and seeking to use reusable ones.
Best Practices and Advice
For events professionals looking for sustainability tips, Lehner advised starting with one aspect of an event to avoid feeling overwhelmed.
“It’s always easiest to kind of do one thing, get started with that, see how it goes and then kind of continue building on that once that has been tackled, once something has been built into kind of the business as usual of the event practice,” Lehner said.
“It could be start measuring your event and once you have got the measurements, you can then see how you can improve this, or it could be highlighting vegan and vegetarian options as low carbon on your menus, and making sure that there are really, really good options available, or it could be trying to find alternatives to single-use plastic bottles. There are so many things that, on their own, they can be really easy to tackle, and then with that success you can then build on the next and the next,” Lehner explained.
The full IMEX America 2023 Sustainability Report can be found here.
Photo Credit: IMEX
