Standardization News

Since 2004, when the Convention Industry Council appointed a green meeting task force that produced a white paper of best practices for suppliers and planners, interest in the concept of green meetings has steadily been growing. Discussions between the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, CIC and the Green Meeting Industry Council revealed a tremendous need in the meeting and event industry for a uniform measure of environmental performance.

Following up on this interest, the CIC's Accepted Practices Exchange (APEX) program teamed up with ASTM, and Subcommittee E60.02 on Hospitality is currently addressing a wide variety of green meeting concerns in a series of proposed standards. The subcommittee is under the jurisdiction of ASTM Committee E60 on Sustainability.

Task groups in the subcommittee are focused on specific meeting industry segments, including accommodations, audiovisual production, food and beverage, destinations, meeting venue, exhibits, transportation, communication and on-site offices. "Once finalized, the standards will give both meeting planners and suppliers such as hotels or transportation companies concrete guidelines and performance measurements that the meetings industry and others have vetted and agree are best practices for creating green meetings," says Karen Kotowski, chief operating officer, Convention Industry Council, and a member of E60.02. "There is so much conflicting information out there, and the industry wants and needs guidance."All interested parties are invited to contribute to the standards developing work of E60.02. The following proposed standards are currently under development by the subcommittee:

CONTACT Technical Information: Karen Kotowski, Convention Industry Council • Alexandria, Va. • Phone: 571-527-3116 • E-mail: kkotowski@conventionindustry.org O ASTM Staff: Stephen Mawn • Phone: 610-832-9726 • E-mail: smawn@astm.org O Upcoming Meeting: April 19-22 • April Committee Week • St. Louis, Mo.