An association has become the first organisation to achieve
a new ‘zero food waste to landfill’ standard for a large event following its
flagship meeting in Abu Dhabi last year.
The International
Congress and Convention Association (ICCA) reduced food waste at its 63rd
Congress, which took place over four days at the ADNEC Centre, in October.
In doing so it became the first international event to
achieve the Zero Food Waste to
Landfill Event Standard certified by The PLEDGE on Food Waste, run by
LightBlue Consulting.
The effort built on the Bangkok Protocol on Sustainable
Gastronomy, which was established at the 2023 ICCA Congress, in Bangkok, and
has become an ongoing legacy initiative.
The scheme only applied to catering at the host venue –
ADNEC.
Neither the welcome dinner at the Ritz-Carlton Abu Dhabi
Grand Canal nor the gala dinner, which took place at the Emirates Palace
Mandarin Oriental Hotel, were included.
The pledge methodology centres on seven pillars – food
preparation, waste monitoring, customer engagement, ‘post-consumer’, which
involves redistributing food into the local economy, employee commitment, food
waste handling, and documentation.
Applied to the ICCA Congress, it is calculated that 1,115kg
of food waste was diverted from landfills at the congress, 371kg of food waste
was saved, and 928 meals were redistributed by by Ne’ma, representing 928
kilograms of CO2 equivalent. An average 163 grams of food waste per delegate
per meal was recorded through LightBlue’s FIT Food Waste Tech. ICCA Congress to
achieve the remarkable score of 87.5 per cent. Due to operational challenges,
some points were deducted on the separation, transformation, and monitoring sub
criteria.
Senthil Gopinath, CEO of ICCA, said: “Sustainability has
become a cornerstone of ICCA’s mission, and achieving the Zero Food Waste to
Landfill certification for the 63rd ICCA Congress is a proud moment for our
community. This milestone reflects our dedication to innovation and raising the
bar for the global events industry.”
Ben Lephilibert, co-founder of The PLEDGE on Food Waste,
added: “The certification of the 63rd ICCA Congress as the first Zero Food
Waste to Landfill event is a monumental step for the MICE industry. By
transforming ambition into measurable impact, ICCA has proven that even
large-scale events can lead the way in sustainability.”
ICCA said it hoped to establish a benchmarking system for
the industry and is working on the development of a practical toolkit to
prevent food waste with LightBlue.
Editor’s note.
Flights are the number one culprit when it comes to the environmental
impact of large events, but there’s not a great deal planners of
internationally rotating meetings can do about reducing these ‘Scope
3’ emissions. By working closely with suppliers and in-house catering teams,
however, food waste is an area where planners can have an impact. While eliminating
food waste entirely is nigh-on impossible, slashing the amount that goes
to landfill, is realistic. ICCA has shown the international association
community what can be achieved, but this success story comes with a pretty big
caveat. Significantly, the pledge covered only the main congress venue and
none of the off-site venues, which hosted two of the main dinners. It will be interesting to see if ICCA increases its ambition on food waste at future congresses, to cover the entire event programme.
Written By
James Lancaster
AMI editor James
Lancaster is a familiar face in the meetings industry and international
association community. Since joining AMI in 2010, he has gained a reputation
for asking difficult questions and getting lost in convention centres. Proofer, podcaster, and panellist - in his spare time, James likes to walk,
read, listen to music, and drink beer.
