The Pennsylvania Convention Centre, marking Earth Day on April 22 released its annual Sustainability Report, which revealed the facility had recycled 840 tons of waste throughout 2019.

The report summarises the Centre’s efforts to reduce its impact on the environment and will be used as a benchmark for ongoing sustainability efforts.

Gregory J. Fox, Esq., Chairman of the Board of the Pennsylvania Convention Centre Authority (PCCA), said: “Our facilities team is committed to sustainability and finding new ways to improve our processes every year. When activity in the meetings and conventions industry begins to resume, the Pennsylvania Convention Centre’s sustainability practices will be another point of distinction for our great facility.”

The 2019 'Sustainability Report' highlighted the fact that the venue was responsible for recycling 842.75 tons of waste through its recycling partner Republic Services, an amount that enabled them to deliver 45% of waste from landfill, a record for the Centre. This means the venue was able to save the equivalent of 3.65m kilowatt hours of electricity, 100,306 gallons of oil, 5.74m gallons of water, and 9,841 mature trees. In total, the sustainability efforts of the PCC reduced greenhouse gas emissions by 2,608 metric tons.

ASM Global Director of Facilities at the Centre, Janet Mitrocsak, said: “The sustainability practices that we have put in place are part of the culture of our facility, but they are also important to an increasing number of customers and event attendees. We’re proud to highlight the ways in which we are helping individual events implement green practices.”

Pennsylvania Convention Centre hosted a number of sustainable events in 2019, including the Pennsylvania Conference for Women, LIGHTFAIR® International (LFI®) 2019, APHA 2019 (American Public Health Association), the Philadelphia Auto Show, and the 2019 Veeva Global R&D Summit. For each show, the venue worked with individual planners to put a focus on sustainable and environmentally responsible choices throughout the planning, organisation and implementation of the events.

Internally, the PCCA/ASM Global Green Team also held an internal salvage recycling event in 2019, which led to the recycling of 20.95 tons of broken furniture, refrigeration equipment, and electronics.