Tourism and events, Canada Development of a multi-year Green Plan for an international sporting organization

Summary

EEM was invited to develop a multi-year Green Plan for a major sporting event in Montreal covering waste management, water-use, air emissions, toxic substances and procurement.

Approach and Solution

EEM evaluated the client’s operations and their current sustainability initiatives, and identified five key objectives around which to structure a three-year Green Plan:

• Zero waste
• Zero emissions
• Water conservation
• Elimination of toxic substances
• Green procurement

EEM organised action items to address each objective and determined measurable indicators to track progress towards the objectives.  Special attention was paid to the greenhouse gas emissions related to the event.

Results

After 2 years, significant progress has been made on all five objectives. Considerable effort was put into encouraging visitors to separate their wastes into 3 waste streams (recyclables, compostables and waste) across the tournament site. Over fifty percent of waste is now diverted from landfill sites. Much work also went into working with suppliers on substituting products and services with more sustainable options, such as compostable plates and utensils, and providing appropriate training to both client and supplier staff.