After narrowly missing out on the title last year, Frankfurt Tourist Office has been presented with the Green Exhibitor Award at the prestigious IMEX Awards 2011. Offering a strong case for environmental sustainability, Frankfurt fended off competition for this coveted award by implementing an impressive number of carbon reduction measures throughout the exhibition, which impressed the panel of judges.
The IMEX Green Exhibitor Award is designed to highlight the ease with which exhibitors can make their stands, marketing materials and the entire process of exhibiting at IMEX more environmentally-friendly and sustainable. The award is intended to encourage all exhibitors to contribute to IMEX’s waste reduction policies, aiding the IMEX organisers in promoting the ‘3 Rs’ – reduce, reuse and recycle – as much as possible.
On picking up the award, Jutta Weisbrod, Director, Frankfurt Convention Bureau, said: “Thank you for honouring our environmental efforts with this prize. Representing the green-minded city of Frankfurt, we are especially pleased to be able to accept this award and we hope that it will spur other exhibitors on to be as environmentally friendly as possible in all of their endeavours and activities. We will do our utmost to ‘stay green’ in the future as well.”
Nominations for the IMEX Green Awards are judged by a panel of industry experts and are finally audited during the show. The 2011 panel, led by IMEX Group Managing Director Paul Flackett, includes representatives from the Green Meeting Industry Council, MCI Group, Meeting Revolution, Sustainability Intelligence as well as specialist consultants Elizabeth Henderson and Louise Hall Reider.
Amy Spatrisano, CMP, Principal commented: “As we discussed yesterday, this year was the most challenging to select only one award recipient for the exhibitor award. Both Iceland and Frankfurt am Main did a wonderful job in designing their booths for continued use, incorporating environmentally preferable products in the materials they used. Both organisations clearly have a commitment to continue to improve their sustainability practices. With much deliberation I selected Frankfurt am Main for two reasons. One, they showed a real commitment to improve over last year by re-thinking and examining where they could better minimise their environmental footprint as it related to booth design. Two, they did extensive outreach to their stand partners engaging them in the process and including them in continual communications about how each partner could contribute and support the commitment to improve by also embracing sustainability and improving their booth practices.”
The Green Exhibitor Award was developed in partnership with the Green Meeting Industry Council and launched five years ago. Previous winners of this award include Estoril Congress Centre, Malta Tourism Authority, Visit London (now London & Partners), Sri Lankan Convention Bureau, Expoforce GmbH and, last year’s winner, Switzerland Convention & Incentive Bureau. Frankfurt Tourist Office now proudly joins this esteemed line-up as an example of good environmental practice during a meetings industry exhibition.
IMEX in Frankfurt is committed to consistently trying to improve its environmental impacts, as well as educating and supporting the worldwide meetings, incentive travel and events industry on how to reduce, reuse and recycle. The IMEX Group is also committed to promoting corporate social responsibility and to increasing industry awareness of its benefits.
IMEX in Frankfurt works in partnership with the Green Meeting Industry Council (GMIC) to deliver a variety of green initiatives with the aim of improving the environmental credentials of the show year-on -year. These include a waste reduction programme, the use of recycled materials in visitor badges, lanyards, bags and even the carpets across the exhibition floor, as well as using hydro-electricity throughout the exhibition, including build-up and breakdown. This year’s major new initiative saw IMEX partner with Deutsche Bahn to provide carbon-free train travel to European hosted buyers. The IMEX Green Team has also been extended since its launch last year. The scheme provides exhibiting staff with a green lapel ribbon in exchange for them fulfilling a number of ‘green’ criteria during the show.
For more information on the IMEX Awards see – http://www.imex-frankfurt.com/imexawards.html
For an IMEX Green Fact Sheet see – http://www.imex-frankfurt.com/pressoffice.html
