Green Meetings and Events Standards
The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has been working with both the Green Meeting Industry Council (GMIC) and the Convention Industry Council (CIC)’s Accepted Practices Exchange (APEX) in order to develop new standards of what constitutes “green” for the meeting and event industry. The plan has been to design a uniform measurement of environmental performance for the industry.
It has been announced that the final draft of the Green Meeting and Event Standards are now ready for review and comment by ASTM International and the meetings industry. The draft standards can be read at the APEX virtual blog site at http://wp.apexsolution.org – Observations and feedback regarding the standards may be left at the blog.
The Green Meeting and Event Standards plans will go through several committees at both APEX and ASTM before being submitted to ASTM in a final draft. All feedback received prior to September 11, whether through any committees or through the APEX blog, will be given due consideration before the final draft is produced.
It is projected that there will be a final Green Meeting and Event Standards that has been officially approved by both APEX and ASTM by the end of 2009. And, while the standards will be voluntary, it is expected that widespread use by planners and competition will incite others to adopt the standards.
