Green Your Tradeshow - 3 Exit Strategies | Promo With Purpose Today

Recycle Bin Ah, the irony! While a presentation drones on about the evils of plastic water bottles and what should be done about it, attendees at a green new product showcase search for a place to pitch their now empty plastic water bottles. A showcase host replies, “You know, we hadn’t thought about that. Just throw them in the regular trash.”

In case you’re wondering, yes, this really happened.

Making your tradeshow or event greener is a start-to-finish affair. What we’ll be looking at here are “exit strategies” you can use to make sure your green efforts don’t go walking out the door when your event ends.

1. Bins for Used Lanyards and Name Badges at Exit – Unless the lanyard is super-cool or your event is attended by those who need them for their security badges, it is unlikely that event attendees will ever use them again in the future. Same goes for the plastic badge holders. Why not collect them at the event exit and reuse them for next time? This will not only help the earth, but will save you money since you can buy less for the next event.

2. Bins for Plastic, Paper, and Aluminum Waste at Exit – The amount of these waste materials generated at events can be huge. With still low recycling rates at the individual level, chances are the pile of paper, plastic containers, and cans will promptly be pitched into the straight-to-landfill waste stream in a hurry once they leave the building. Tap in to people’s desire to unload unnecessary weight at the end of an event and provide separated recycling bins at the exit. Unless you plan to haul it away yourself, this effort will have to be coordinated with the event facility for pick-up.

3. Recycle or Ship Back Show Materials – It’s the last few hours of an event and what do you see? Booth personnel scrambling to get rid of show materials so they don’t have to pack, ship or drag them back home. What a waste on multiple levels! If you are stuffing brochures or promotional products into the hands of unwilling show visitors, where do you think those items will end up? Of course, in the trash, likely as soon as they leave the show. These materials will also likely end up in the landfill-bound trash, not recycling bin. If you unnecessarily hand out show materials, you will probably have to reorder or reprint them for another event. So you have increased costs for the earth and your marketing budget. Plan in advance how you will handle the return or recycling of unused show materials and advise your booth personnel of procedures.