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Green Meeting Guidelines
Green meetings have been defined as "meetings that incorporate environmental considerations throughout all stages of the meeting in order to minimize the negative impact on the environment."
The IHM congregation is committed to reducing its impact on the environment and continues to find new ways to leave a lighter footprint on the Earth. Recently the Leadership Council approved guidelines for holding green meetings. These guidelines, pulled together by the IHM Campus Greening Committee, are spelled out below and on the PowerPoint presentation, "IHM Green Meeting Guidelines." Although the guidelines were established for the Motherhouse campus, they can easily be adapted for other organizations as well. They will minimize the environmental impact of events through:
- Decreasing the amount of solid waste produced by the event
- Reducing energy and water consumption at the event
- Minimizing or off-setting harmful emissions resulting from vehicular transportation and energy consumption associated with the event
- Disposing of solid and liquid waste in an environmentally responsible manner
- Eliminating the use of harmful chemicals for an event
Meeting planners throughout SSIHM have been incorporating various green concepts in events planned both on- and off-campus, but the concepts have not been formalized and communicated as SSIHM Green Meeting Guidelines.
SSIHM's Green Meeting Guidelines for those planning and attending meetings both on- and off-Campus are as follows:
Preventing and Reducing Waste
- Use e-mail to coordinate meeting dates, send meeting agendas, handouts, research, reading materials and minutes.
- Collect and reuse meeting prayers.
- Use Channel 12 to broadcast resident notices.
- Use double-sided printing when hard copies are needed.
- Avoid mass distribution of handouts and allow attendees to order copies.
- Burn CD of handouts for large slide presentations when possible.
- Provide reusable name badges and recycle paper inserts.
- Use black, free-standing sign boards with reusable lettering or recyclable paper for welcome, restroom or session locations.
- Use conference call services to eliminate the need for travel for off-campus meeting participants to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Recycling and Managing Waste
- Collect paper in meeting areas for recycling.
Food Service
- Plan food service needs carefully to avoid unnecessary waste.
- Request china or biodegradable disposals when planning food service.
- Ask that condiments, beverages, and other food items be provided in bulk instead of individually packaged.
Buying Environmentally-Friendly Products
- Use standardized green office supplies for promotional materials and handouts.
- Do not use goldenrod or fluorescent colored paper because it is hard to recycle.
- Limit the use of glossy paper to applications where it significantly improves the publication (e.g. high-quality photography).
- Provide refillable containers for beverages.
- Provide reusable containers for handouts or samples (pocket or file folders, cloth bags).
- Where reusable items are not feasible, select products that are made from recovered materials that can also be recycled.
Educating Participants and Exhibitors
- Encourage participants to recycle materials at events.
- Request that unused items be collected for use at another event.
- Request the use of recycled and recyclable handouts or giveaways.
- Reward participation by communicating environmental savings achieved.
Downloadable PowerPoint Presentation
You can download the Green Meeting Guidelines and use the PowerPoint presentation to discuss these ideas with co-workers. (500 kb)
Sources
What is a Green Meeting? Web site for Meeting Strategies Worldwide
It's Easy Being Green! A Guide to Planning and Conducting Environmentally Aware Meetings and Events," United States Environmental Protection Agency EPA530-K-96-002, September 1996.
"Green Meetings Policy" by the National Recycling Coalition. |
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