Printed Exhibitor Manuals have been steadily eliminated from our trade shows; the majority of shows are 100% online, the remaining events have greatly reduced their print numbers. This also means that all order forms sent to contractors, venues and suppliers are online as well.

The quantity of pre-show material produced is being constantly reviewed, along with the actual weight of the materials printed and mailed.  Electronic communications are being used wherever possible, with almost 17 tonnes of printed promotional material being eliminated in Asia in 2011.

The use of FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) paper and recycled paper is being increasingly used for Show Directories and Visitor Guides, along with the use of environmentally-friendly inks (soy/vegetable-based/environmentally-certified) which have been used in Hong Kong since 2010.

In cooperation with our appointed registration company, we have completely eliminated the use of plastic badge holders at selected events.  A recycled plastic badge holder is being used at other events.

We are making more extensive use of our multi-lingual email broadcast system to reduce the amount of printed material. We also open our e-Invitation system to exhibitors and encourage them to send electronic invitations of our shows to their buyers.

We encourage our staff to use recycle paper for printing internal documents and receiving faxes. We also share documents via online systems and shared drives to reduce the necessity of printing them out.

We work with the venues used to have more permanent signage options and less banners, and to reduce waste on-site and to improve recycling rates; with contractors to try and use more environmentally friendly and reusable materials, and to reduce the amount of material used.

We are sharing information with our colleagues in sister companies and are trying to adopt best practice across our respective shows; in Asia we will use advances made in Hong Kong head office to introduce to our other offices.