10 Ways to Incorporate Recycling and Sustainability for Food and Beverage

The bulk of meetings and events are still held at hotels, conference centers, etc. What should meeting planners expect their meeting venues to be doing as it relates to food and beverage to demonstrate their commitment to sustainability?

Elizabeth Henderson, CMM, CMP, M.E. Des., director of corporate responsibility for Meeting Professionals International (MPI), Calgary, Alberta, Canada, offers the following advice when it comes to expectations of food and beverage, as these have become the standard at MPI events:

1. Use china and other re-usable items for food service.
2. Condiments like cream and sugar in bulk containers.
3. Water in jugs or large coolers, no bottled water; do not pre-fill water glasses.
4. Use of linen cloths and napkins instead of paper.
5. Serve sustainable seafood.
6. Source local foods.
7. Fair trade/shade grown coffee.
8. Donate leftover food
9. Compost scraps
10. Eliminate polystyrene.

In addition, planners can ask the following four questions to hotel food suppliers, event venues and caterers:

• Are they local, or do they source local products?
• Do they provide a certain percentage of organic foods?
• Do they source fair trade products?
• If not local, how are far are the products shipped?