ENVIRONMENTALLY RESPONSIBLE   MEETINGS
 

Stellar Events strives to enable our clients’ meetings to reflect conscious environmental choices.

A setting with hundreds of attendees is a powerful opportunity to practice principles that will not only conserve resources but may also save money.  A few examples include:
 

Pre-planning:

• Query potential sites about environmental polices and advise our clients so they may choose wisely. For example:

• Marriott Hotels has numerous initiatives such as “reduce-reuse-recycle” waste management that make it an industry leader – read more here.
   

• Universal Orlando (which includes several superb Loews Hotels) practices “Green is Universal” policies that include conversion to alternative fuels such as Biodiesel and Enthanol. The resort also recycles used cooking oils for alternative fuel uses.

• Present proposals utilizing double-sided printing whenever possible.
   

• Suggest room gifts made of recycled materials.
   

• Print program materials on recycled paper with biodegradable ink.
   

• Emphasize paperless communications in all aspects of pre-trip planning.
   

• Ask attendees during on-line registration which meals they plan to attend; this reduces food waste as well as cost.

 On-site:

• Serve complimentary filtered water from pitchers at breaks, instead of bottled water. This offers considerable financial savings, as bottles may cost around $5.00 each including tax and gratuity, and also avoids using hundreds or thousands of plastic bottles.
   

• Rearrange and re-use floral arrangements at more than one event, or order reusable decorations such as silk flowers.
   

• Consider menu choices utilizing food from local growers.
   

• Provide receptacles for collecting name badges for recycling at the end of the program.
   

• Ask the meeting venue to provide visible and accessible recycling containers for paper, metal, plastic and glass.
   

• Ensure that lights and air conditioning will be turned off when meeting rooms are not in use.
   

• Promote activity choices that support the environment in specific destinations, such as reef-building and wetlands restoration in Hawaii.

 Please join us in supporting organizations such as TerraPass, which sells carbon offsets to reduce and balance the impact of travel on the environment.