Sustainable Event Planning

Waste Management

The Edmonton EXPO Centre has a comprehensive waste management program in place, and our sustainability experts can help you develop a plan for reducing waste generated by your event.

We offer flexible bin configuration based on your specific event waste and will work with you to capture the recyclable waste from your event in the correct streams. We understand that waste management is different everywhere you go, so we are happy to provide waste-sorting guidelines ahead of time that will help you, your attendees and your exhibitors get up to speed on waste sorting in our venue.

We can also provide ideas for reducing waste, specific to your event. For example, we can recommend how to use fewer single-use items, avoid disposable dishware, eliminate totes or use digital programs and communications.

Materials

We have a partnership with our in-house signage provider, GES, to offer 100% recyclable signage alternatives at the same price as traditional non-recyclable foamcore or vinyl signage.

We also partner with more than 40 community groups and non-profits to give a second life to leftover materials from your event. Through this program, we can connect you with potential donation recipients for any materials or products you may have leftover at the end of your event. Reach out to our team while planning your event to find out how we can connect you with a donation program!

Greenhouse Gas Emissions

In 2019, the Edmonton EXPO Centre became a Climate Smart Business. We began calculating our carbon footprint as an organization so that we could begin to set targets to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions. When we talk about the carbon footprint of our business, we’re talking about the total amount of greenhouse gases, primarily carbon dioxide, that are released into the atmosphere by our business activity.

In 2020, we developed our Greenhouse Gas Reduction Plan to reduce our overall venue emissions. We can collect onsite carbon footprint calculations for your events and connect you with plenty of initiatives like planting trees, investing in renewables or other low-carbon initiatives to help offset the emissions from your event. The sooner we can start thinking about our emissions together, the sooner we can start making a difference.

Sustainable Food

Thirty-five per cent of our food comes from local producers and growers, allowing us to re-invest more than $400,000 in our local economy, support Edmonton-area suppliers and reduce transportation emissions. Our Food & Beverage teamwill work with you to incorporate local products into the menu for your event.

We work with food reclamation services like the Edmonton Food Bank’s Second Helping Program to donate excess food from events in order to reduce waste and feed our city’s vulnerable population.

Our food program extends to the roof of our building with two beehives that boast more than 50,000 bees at the peak of each season. The honey produced by our bees has its own unique flavour and, once harvested, adds a special touch to our Food & Beverage program.