At the recent Outdoor Retailer Winter Market in Salt Lake City, Utah, OR introduced a new concept called the “Green Steps” program — designed to raise awareness on sustainability and showcase outdoor companies that support a healthy environment. The program received high marks from both retailers and exhibitors and caught the eye of ORs parent company, VNU Expositions, who plan to implement similar programs for the more than 60 tradeshows they currently produce.
Leading by example at Winter Market, OR worked with Utah Power and Light to use 100% clean wind energy to power the show at the Salt Palace Convention Center. By choosing wind power, Winter Market offset 252 tons of carbon dioxide emissions, which is comparable to not driving 539,000 miles or taking 43 cars off the road for a year or planting 99 acres of trees (48,497 trees). With such positive results, OR is planning to use wind energy again at the upcoming Summer Market in August. The Salt Palace Convention Center also reported compacting 80 yards of cardboard during the shows set-up/tear-down in addition to the materials collected at the 45 recycling bins throughout the Convention Center.
Impressed by the Green Steps program, ORs parent company, VNU Expositions, realized the sustainability effort could be broadened to all VNU tradeshows which are held throughout the country with domestic and international attendance. In fact, VNU management is currently researching environmentally sustainable procedures for all their shows based upon the Green Steps model.
“Our staff was really inspired by the success of the Green Steps program and wanted to share what we learned with other VNU tradeshows. The Sports Group team, who manages Outdoor Retailer, approached VNU execs with a template for operating in a similar eco-friendly manner and VNU is fully supporting the concept,” said Lori Jenks Group Operations Director for VNU Sports Group Division.
