Towards a national standard on waste management
Glenn Hansen , executive strategic advisor BPA Worldwide , on how Singapore has developed waste management guidelines and best practices for the MICE industry
ate last year I worked
L with Singapore Standards Council , SACEOS ( Singapore Association of Convention & Exhibition Organisers & Suppliers ) and their stakeholders to develop a national document on waste management guidelines and best practices for the Singapore MICE industry . It would contribute to a certification programme to verify event companies ’ compliance to sustainability metrics .
As technical writer to ‘ WA 3 Sustainable MICE – Guidelines on Waste Management ’, we created a set of such guidelines and best practices in the form of a Workshop Agreement ( WA ), a type of national standard document .
The initiative is part of the Singapore MICE Sustainability Roadmap jointly developed by SACEOS and Singapore Tourism Board ( STB ) in December 2022 . The roadmap is guided by the Singapore Green Plan 2030 and the UN Sustainable Development Goals .
Start tracking Specifically , the Singapore MICE industry is to start tracking waste and carbon emissions by 2023 . The industry will work towards reducing waste and achieving net-zero emissions by 2050 in line with the national target . The WA workshop included public and private representatives across the MICE and waste value chain and was supported by the Singapore Standards Council .
The WA includes guidelines and best practices that can be verified . It is applicable across the MICE supply chain , including event organisers , venues , contractors , food and beverage providers and exhibitors . The WA is applicable to business events with 50 + persons in attendance .
The workshop participants reviewed existing international sustainability standards and selected several for comparison . We researched the current state of waste management programmes and policies within the Singapore MICE industry and referenced standards from around the globe . Across three months , four threehour workshops were held with 21 participants and the WA was tempered to match stakeholders ’ needs and capabilities .
We considered the use of shall , should , may , and can in guidelines and best practices . Readers of any guidance document should consider the use of each verb .
• ‘ Shall ’ indicates a requirement . It was not used .
• ‘ Should ’ indicates a recommendation . It is used throughout the document , 180 times .
• ‘ May ’ indicates a permission . It
Glenn Hansen
was not used .
• ‘ Can ’ indicates a possibility or capability . It was used 26 times .
Current guidance comes in the form of ‘ should ’. If the WA is converted to a standard in two years , the use of ‘ should ’ will likely become ‘ shall ’ with compliance necessary to certify to the standard .
Some guidance basics , organisers and suppliers should :
• Measure and track waste and recycling data and calculate landfill and / or incineration diversion rates of events .
• Establish a baseline by type of waste such that performance can be measured and tracked , and realistic goals can be set .
• Set waste reduction goals following the Reduce / Reuse / Recycle ( 3Rs ) approach whereby reduce actions are preferred over reuse actions , and both are preferred over recycling actions .
• Use environmentally friendly materials and follow the 3Rs with all stand build and staging .
• Avoid use of carpet except where necessary for safety and in all cases use recyclable material .
• Ultimately , eliminate disposable event structures and food waste .
• Consider where waste goes after it leaves an event facility .
• Use mobile event technology to reduce use of paper and signage .
I look forward to driving the efforts of achieving one of Singapore MICE Sustainability Roadmap targets to develop a set of sustainability standards by 2023 that the industry can readily apply and be internationally recognised by 2024 .
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