Adelaide’s reputation as a clever city continues to grow with the Adelaide Convention Centre winning praise in Spain last week for its outstanding success in minimising organic waste.
The Centre was highly commended in the Sustainable Initiative of the Year category of the EITBM (European Incentive, Business, Travel and Meeting Exhibition) Award while Tourism Australia was also highly commended in the Best Destination Marketing Campaign category.
It is the second global accolade the Centre has won for its sustainable business practices this year: in July it won the coveted International Association of Congress Centres’ AIPC Innovation Award.
Adelaide Convention Centre’s waste minimisation program began in 2006 and since that time, about 327 tonnes of organic waste – the equivalent of nearly 47 average sized African male elephants – has been stopped from entering landfill.
Nearly 320 tonnes of waste has been composted in bio-bins while thousands of worms munch their way through 640kg of food scraps a month in the Centre’s massive worm farm, producing more than 860 litres of worm juice which is used to fertilise gardens.
Two tonnes of freshly prepared, frozen food – enough to produce 12,000 individual meals – has also been donated to Foodbank, a non-denominational, charitable organisation which sources donated and surplus food from the food and grocery industry to distribute to welfare and community agencies that provide assistance to people in need.
“Adelaide is regarded internationally as a ‘thinking city’ and this award for our innovative approach to reducing waste will enhance our reputation even further,” Adelaide Convention Centre Chief Executive Alec Gilbert says.
“Conference planners and organisers understand that the same innovative approach that we apply to our business operations are applied to the world-class meetings and events we stage, whether an international medical conference or a global congress on transport.
“Today we are recognised as one of the most socially responsible organisations on the planet and we are thrilled to accept this latest accolade from the international meeting and events industry.”
In July, Adelaide Convention Centre became the first South Australian based organisation to achieve Green Globe silver accreditation joining a select group of companies across the globe.
It was also the first convention centre in Australia to offer Go for Green conference packages and recently became the first South Australian based company to install a revolutionary new cleaning and sanitising system that uses just water, salt and electricity.
Image: Adelaide Convention Centre
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