Sustainability at World Workplace

Our sustainable event policies and practices include:

  • Recycling: Bins located throughout the convention center for recycling papers, used cans and bottles, and conference name badges for reuse at future IFMA events.
  • Reduced Paper Usage: Primary distribution of event information via website and email. Minimal on-site materials and handouts. Post-conference panel notes, presentations and proceedings available on the event website. Online session evaluations.
  • Conference Surplus: Table centerpieces, foam core and other materials and supplies are donated to a local school or charity.
  • Food/Catering: As often as possible, disposable cups are replaced with reusable mugs and/or eco products. Disposable cutlery is replaced with reusable silverware and/or cornstarch compostables. Trash bags are compostable/biodegradable. Locally grown purveyors or fair trade products are used when available. Surplus catering is donated to a local charity.
  • Travel/Carbon Offsets: Travel is a necessity for many of our attendees and exhibitors. Some companies and organizations have internal sustainability strategies in place. If you would like to calculate your carbon footprint in this area of sustainability, you’ll find the following links helpful:
  • On-site Transportation: Each official event hotel is within walking distance of the convention center, as well as local attractions, dining and entertainment options.

 

Green Philly

In Mayor Michael Nutter’s January 2008 inaugural address, he pledged to make Philadelphia the #1 green city in America. He created the Mayor’s Office of Sustainability, which spent a year researching municipal sustainability and talking with residents to draft “Greenworks Philadelphia.” This ambitious plan sets 15 sustainability targets in the areas of energy, environment, equity, economy and engagement to make Philadelphia the greenest city in America by 2015.

Philadelphia Sustainability Programs:

  • Solar City Partnership: Philadelphia plans to transform the local market for solar energy, making solar technologies cost-competitive. The U.S. Department of Energy and the city have partnered to work toward both large- and small-scale deployment in the city.
  • Local Food: Target 10 of Greenworks Philadelphia focuses on bringing local food within 10 minutes of 75 percent of residents. The goal is to increase access to fresh food, create demand for locally grown foods, support food entrepreneurs and combat hunger.
  • Tree Planting: Trees deliver a multitude of benefits—from decreased air pollution, stormwater runoff and extreme temperature days, to increased property values, carbon sequestration and quality of life.
  • Mayor’s Farmers Market: In support of the Greenworks Philadelphia initiatives to expand the number of farmers markets, publicize local food sources and connect farmers to customers, the Mayor’s Office of Sustainability hosts an annual Mayor’s Farmers Market.
  • Green Building: The Mayor’s Office of Sustainability supports and promotes efforts to build green, and is developing a green building program that will act as a resource for architects, builders and homeowners in the city.
  • EnergyWorks: A comprehensive energy solutions program for home and commercial or industrial building owners, EnergyWorks helps owners find ways to reduce their building’s energy use; and EnergyWorks’ low-interest loans help them pay for the upgrade. EnergyWorks is a program of the Metropolitan Caucus, a coalition of commissioners and council members from Bucks, Chester, Delaware and Montgomery counties, and the Mayor of Philadelphia. It is supported by a grant from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Better Buildings Program.

 

For more information, please visit www.phila.gov/green/programs.html





 

International Facility Management Association
800 Gessner Rd., Suite 900 • Houston, TX • 77024-4257 USA
Phone: +1-713-623-4362 • Fax: +1-713-623-6124 • ifma@ifma.org

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