The Venues Collection will be promoting their award-winning sustainable venue packages at CHS Birmingham on 31stOctober. Over the past few years, the Collection has introduced several sustainability projects under its ‘Meetings for Change’ initiative which has culminated in the Group being awarded the Silver ‘Green Meetings’ accreditation and the Bronze Sustainability Award at the recent M&IT Awards.
The Venue Collection was the first UK venue chain to introduce carbon labelling cross their entire portfolio in 2022 and earlier this year they were the first venue chain to introduce solar powered EV charging canopies.
The ‘Meetings for Change’ initiative is a five-point charter focussing on sustainable food options including ethically sourced tea and coffee served with Red Tractor Assured milk; buffet lunch, dinner and breakfast options that prioritise British seasonal ingredients, minimal food waste and plant-forward options; hydration stations that use fruit and vegetable peelings to flavour the water to remove single-use plastics and reduce food waste. It also includes a sustainable approach to the use of stationary, ‘take what you like, but only take what you need’.
Jo Austin, Sales Director, The Venues Collection said: “Having just won the Bronze Sustainability Award at the M&IT Awards, we are keen to share our award-winning approach with our clients. Our carbon labelled menus give organisers ownership and control of their carbon footprints; they have the facts they need to ensure that their events are as sustainable as possible. All of our work is focused on working in partnership with our clients – we do the heavy lifting and help them to make better informed decisions. Sustainability is a key focus across all of our venues and we look forward to discussing our initiatives with everyone at CHS Birmingham.”
The Venues Collection works with a third-party business that tracks global food sourcing and movement to create up to date carbon footprint information about ingredients of a dish. In the food industry climate labels are based on calculations of the emissions of greenhouse gases presented as kg carbon dioxide equivalents (kg CO2e). The calculations in turn are based on values assigned to each stage of the production of the food through life cycle assessments (LCAs). Some foods, such as a chickpea patty will have very low carbon emissions compared to meals such as spaghetti Bolognese; taking the middle ground would steer organisers to dishes such as poached cod.
The Venues Collection is part of Lime Venue Portfolio and the residential venue business of Compass Group UK & Ireland. The Collection comprises of six event and training sites across the South West, South East, and East & West Midlands.