AWRE and ICC Sydney team up to deliver excellence in sustainable events
With the help of ICC Sydney, AWRE and Diversified Communications Australia are now leading the way in sustainable event management.
When it came to planning for AWRE 2019, and selecting a venue with our return to Sydney as an annual event, the International Convention Centre Sydney (ICC Sydney), was once again, the obvious choice.
Not only because it’s an outstanding venue, but also because of our mutual commitment to ensuring that sustainable event practices are embedded across the AWRE event, like was started in 2018.
To realise the sustainability goals of AWRE, ICC Sydney engaged with Diversified Communications to plan a number of initiatives minimising the impacts associated with the event.
5% target to landfill (or 95% diversion rate)
With the help of ICC Sydney, AWRE and Diversified Communications Australia are now leading the way in sustainable event management. We have an ambitious target – to send just 5% of our event waste to landfill. This compares to 70-80% five years ago when the Towards Zero Landfill project was born. Towards Zero Landfill is AWRE’s project to reduce its environmental impact and to also lead behavioural shift within the AWRE community.
“As the trade exhibition for the waste and recycling industry, if we’re not delivering on what we talk about as that industry, it doesn’t really fit. So the chance to work with ICC Sydney who has the same values or intents with their own plans has really allowed us to have the platform to do that and work in collaboration.”
Andrew Lawson, Event Manager – Diversified Communications
Our vision
Our Vision is to deliver an event in which everything is sourced responsibly from the catering, packaging, the way we recycle and from stand building material so everything is sourced in a way that we know is sustainable and we’re protecting the planet or the environment.
Some of our initiatives
AWRE maximised use of available waste separation systems by source separating items into ICC Sydney’s available waste streams:
- Organics
- Comingled Recycling
- Paper and Cardboard
- Packaging Material
- Crushed Glass
- General Waste
Read more about our initiatives here.
Mirroring ICC Sydney’s commitment to reducing plastic, AWRE communicated with exhibitors prior to the event to reduce plastic and packaging during move in and out. ICC Sydney’s removal of plastic straws across its venue, and the availability of Sydney Water tap water across the exhibition floor further supported AWRE’s commitment to reduce plastic.
The results from AWRE 2018
AWRE and ICC Sydney achieved a 66% Diversion rate (of a target of 95%). This is an excellent result especially when compared to the national average diversion waste rate which sits around the 51% mark as per the last government report in 2016.
- 66% overall waste diversion
- 24 Kilograms of fertilizer produced from organic waste
- 5000 plastic water bottles saved across the event
Whilst this was a significant improvement on the previous year, ample opportunity exists for us to keep improving on waste diversion. Particularly in the area of co-mingled recycling.
Some comments from our attendees
“It’s good to see that ICC Sydney have a program of sorting their waste so when the waste goes to the recycler, it’s dealt with in the right way and it doesn’t end up being contaminated.” David Beaver, Director, DB Packaging
“There’s not a straw in sight. Every recycling bin has a landfill bin next to it. Ensuring that it minimises contamination”. Peter Cruwys, Sales Director – Source Separation Systems
Watch the video from the event!
If you have any questions about our sustainability practices at events, please feel free to get in touch with Pedro or Laura.
Pedro Gallo
Senior Operations Manager
Diversified Communications
[email protected]
Laura Goddard
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Executive
International Convention Centre Sydney
[email protected]
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