News & Events

1st March 2017

Sustainability shines at CONFEX

As co-producer of the 2016 Global Sustainable Events Summit, RLC Founder Rachel Ley was invited to speak at International Confex, the meeting place for events industry professionals.  One of a panel of industry thought-leaders, she updated show visitors on the Summit’s recent research findings into corporate event planners’ thinking on sustainability.

Rachel shared the stage with fellow speakers Emma Owens, Partnership Manager for Sustainable Events Ltd; Mark Scales, Head of Event Solutions, Bank Sadler and Carol Primett, Events Manager at Anglian Water Services. The conversation focused on tackling sustainability challenges progressively, identifying easily-achievable solutions that would make a big difference if adopted on a large scale.

A great example quoted was that of drinking water. Almost half of all plastic bottles used in the home end up in landfill sites, which means that the number of bottles evading recycling in the UK could reach 29 billion by the end of 2020. If conference organisers industry-wide asked for tap instead of bottled water on delegate tables, the impact would be significant.

Speakers explained how the research unveiled at last November’s Sustainable Events Summit had sought to inspire people to share best practice sustainability stories.  If one event planner in every company switched to sustainable thinking the industry-wide movement would spread exponentially, they said.

In her closing remarks, Rachel concluded: “Doing something is better than doing nothing.”

Confex Event Director Liz Agostini said: “Confex visitors really care about sustainability within the industry and have shown a massive appetite in looking at ways to improve the industry in that area. This is a really important part of our content.

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