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Cavendish first to be landfill neutral in January 2009
26 November 2008
It's official, Cavendish Conference Venues will become the first group of venues in central London to be landfill neutral in January 2009. This announcement follows the company's recent nomination for the ‘Visit London Sustainable Tourism Award' and its acquisition of a Green Tourism Silver Award during November 2008.
A landfill neutral status is being achieved across all five of Cavendish's venues through a variety of proactive and innovative schemes including incentivising organisers to responsibly dispose of waste and securing an efficient system of recycling food waste. The company has led the way in implementing and instigating green initiatives from the day it was first established 1995.
Tom Mayers, Cavendish Conference Venue Director explains, "Our commitment to the environment is not a reaction to the recent upsurge in demand for green venues. Our ethos has always been to develop and establish the very best green credentials possible within all our venues. It is definitely not easy to take the green route, it is always initially very time-consuming and in some cases costs more but ultimately we feel that this attitude and approach to running venues is essential in this day and age."
Market leading environmental practices have been integrated into the building programme of every venue in the group as it has been developed and launched. This is extremely apparent in design and build of The Hallam (Hallam Street, London, W1W 6JE) which is due to open in January 2009 and America Square Conference Centre (One America Square, 17 Crosswall, London, EC3N 2LB), which opened in September 2008.
On a day to day basis the team at Cavendish looks for ways of reducing even more waste. It routinely offers delegates writing materials made from recycled plastic cups, all printed materials supplied are printed on recycled paper using vegetable based inks and the group recycles everything from glass and plastic bottles to batteries and light bulbs. Cavendish is also working with the Carbon Trust to introduce a carbon calculator which will include the delegate's journey to work as well as the waste produced by the actual conferences.
These green initiatives have resulted in an impressive roster of clients with a prerequisite to use ‘Green Venues' including: The Carbon Trust, Carbon Neutral Company, The Green Alliance, Green Power Conferences, The Green Service Company and WRAP.
Laila Maji of Green Power Conferences comments, "Before we take anything else into consideration, we look at green policies and the location of a venue, first and foremost. Efficient staff and good facilities, such as quality catering and wireless connection, are also important to us, as is value for money. We regularly work with Cavendish Conference Venues and were pleased to be one of the very first conference organisers to stage an event at the group's new venue in America Square."