On the 26th January 2023 we held our first Greengage Insights Live and Awards Show. The event was held at The Marylebone Hotel in London and we had a full house of industry professionals attend.
Guests were motivated by a wonderful thought provoking key note from Tommie Eaton. Tommie is a founder of the purpose driven, global business @BambuuBrush who work with some of the world’s most influential companies in the world like Virgin Atlantic, Etihad Airways, LUSH cosmetics, and Channel4, to inspire positive change through sustainable products, educational workshops and impact projects.
Since launching the business Tommie and partner Rebecca have sold over 3,000,000 bamboo toothbrushes stopping over 60,000kg of plastic entering commercial circulation whilst educating over 5,000 children. They have organised over 30 impact projects across the globe and have had the privilege to speak at COP26 and more recently Tommie delivered a TEDxTalk on why he disagrees that Net-Zero should be the leading goal for us to live sustainably.
After an update from our CEO Andrew Perolls we had a panel discussion with Johnny Palmer – Founder of Autonomous Investments and Pytch Events.
Johnny kindly supported the event by sharing stories of his successful career and moderating our panel discussion. Johnny is a business adventurer and founder/co-founder of companies in media, hospitality, software, property and renewables. He is also a passionate activist and placemaker. Other panelists included Olivia Hughes – Operations Director, Meet Events , Louisa Watson – Marketing Director Wyboston, and Ami Taylor – Head of Channels Thrust Carbon.
Before the awards we had an update from the WWF and the event managed to raise a total of £1401 for the WWF.
Now for the awards…
The first Awards Category is for Accommodation and Meetings Sustainability Initiative.
This award recognises an outstanding initiative (or set of initiatives) implemented in the past 18 months that have had a significant impact on the sustainability of the business. Judges were particularly looking for a sustainability challenge that has been addressed, evidence of client buy-in and measurable success.
In this category there were two highly commended awards Wyboston Lakes Resort and the Lamington Hotels Group. Well done to them. It was a very, very close run thing!
The winning entry focussed on the detailed approach taken to provide a highly sustainable experience for meeting and event guests. Supported by comprehensive case studies and positive client feedback this conference venue demonstrated an excellent 3 way collaboration between themselves, client and suppliers.
Food and beverage was a particular highlight. Not only do they take exceptional care to provide healthy, seasonal and local food but also extensive steps are taken to minimise food waste.
Delegates are encouraged to use public transport to the venue including making use of a Clean Air Walking Route that reduces air pollution breathed in by 57%. CO2 emissions are tracked per delegate at each event.
A highly compelling entry.
And the winner was BMA House London
The next category was for best Agency Sustainability Initiative. Judges were looking for a sustainability challenge within the business that has been addressed through a dedicated initiative in the past 18 months and that has had a significant impact on the agency or the business or their clients.
There were three highly commended awards in this category. Situ, Inntel and Agiito. Many congratulations to all of them, there were some excellent Award submissions. But unfortunately, there could only be one winner.
The winner developed a brand new event carbon consultancy service with 3 objectives:
1. Provide a validated event carbon measurement tool
2. To offer consulting designed to present recommendations on ways to reduce the event footprint
3. Deliver a verified offset portfolio for the remaining carbon emissions to be offset.
The judges liked the way this initiative takes a complex issue and provides an effective, simple solution
And the winner was Conference Care
The next category is for best Innovative Product or Service. The judges wanted to recognise a product or service that has had a positive environmental impact over the past 18 months and displays impressive innovation. This could be a sustainable alternative to an existing product, or an entirely new concept. The entire lifecycle of the product or service should be considered, from conception, to production, delivery and beyond.
This award was particularly hotly contested with a lot of entries. In the end this was whittled down to four.
The three highly commended awards go to Ammique Beds, Mendabath and Envirobuild.
The winner has recognised that 1/3 of all food is wasted and wanted to do something about it. Their unique range of products has adopted the circular economy principles of using raw materials that would otherwise be wasted, they are a social enterprise giving all profits to charity, they operate as a carbon neutral business, are a certified B Corp and have donated £74,000 to charities fixing the food system.
They brew beer – using surplus bread to replace barley which uses less land, water and energy. The number of slices of bread rescued is 2.6 million – 3x height of Mount Everest.
And the winner was Toast Beer
Now to the final award for Sustainability Champion. The judges were looking for someone within the travel, events, accommodation and supplier industry that has demonstrated an exceptional commitment to environmental change. This award is given to a positive role model that has influenced the environmental decisions of their team and business.
There were three excellent highly commended award winners:
Warren Campbell – 15 Hatfields
Robert Godwin – Lamington Group
Jody Kennard – Situ
The winner leads the Event Team for a large organisation. This person has revolutionised previously unsustainable approaches, driven radical transformation and guided stakeholders along a remarkable sustainability journey.
She recognises that good event planning is driven by early decision-making and that sustainability requires responsible decisions to be at the heart of every event. She is leading her organisation’s approach to making responsible decisions across supply chains, processes, people and material.
Some of the many initiatives include a campaign to eliminate single use plastic, initiatives to promote recycling, reducing the use of promotional items, moving to a paperless event environment, encouragement of public transport and using virtual meetings as a way of reducing carbon impact.
And the winner was Sammy Connell from the NASUWT Teachers Union.
To watch our event please click here
If you are a venue or accommodation provider and would like to start your sustainability journey with us through our ECOsmart accreditation please click here
For any other enquiries please reach out to the team.
