Sydney Centre Signs up for Sustainability Program

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. May 29, 2009

MAY 29, 2009 - The Sydney Convention and Exhibition Centre has embarked on a new drive to boost environmental awareness in the business events sector, through its involvement in a government sustainability program.

The Centre has signed up for the 18-month New South Wales Government Sustainability Advantage Program in order to identify new measures that will help the venue and its clients achieve a better environment.

Operated by the Department of Environment and Climate Change, the program is designed to boost business understanding of sustainability and assist in the identification and management of present and future environmental issues, with a particular focus on energy efficiency.

"We are very proud of the Centre's leadership on environmental issues within the business events industry but we want to achieve more," said Centre Chief Executive, Ton van Amerongen. "Participation in this scheme will raise the bar higher for us and help us discover new ways that we can reduce the impact of events on the environment."

The Centre has been a leader in environmental practices over the past six years.

Since 2003 it has increased recycling volumes by 184% annually and in 2008 it recycled an impressive 46% of its exhibition waste stream.

Its efforts to divert material from landfill prevented the creation of 636 tonnes of greenhouse gas - an achievement equivalent to taking 298 cars off Australian roads for a year.

The Centre is one of the first Australian venues, and one of only a handful worldwide, to be undertaking the accreditation process to become a silver Green Globe benchmarked venue. This comes two years after the Centre became one of the first two convention centres in the world to receive Green Globe benchmark accreditation for its environmental programs.