International Convention Centre Sydney (ICC Sydney) is building on its commitment to sustainability by achieving the prestigious Silver Certification by EarthCheck – the world’s leading environmental certification and benchmarking program for the travel and tourism industry.
The Silver Certification recognises ICC Sydney’s commitment to driving positive environmental outcomes though its sustainability initiatives. Benchmarked against the sector, EarthCheck places the venue above best practice for energy consumption, water consumption, emissions and waste.
The certification is the latest endorsement of the venue’s sustainability achievements. In June ICC Sydney’s waste reduction program won the UFI Sustainable Development Award 2020. Aligned with the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goal 12: Responsible Production and Consumption, the venue’s refuse, reduce, reuse, recycle and recover waste methodology resulted in a 58% landfill diversion rate in 2019-20.
To target single-use plastics, ICC Sydney also became a signatory to City of Sydney’s Single-Use Pledge and in 2018 the venue joined the ‘Sydney Doesn’t Suck’ campaign. The combined effort has removed 520,000 individually wrapped mints from meeting rooms each year, prevented 88,000 straws from entering landfill annually and coffee cup lids have been replaced by an opt-in system at kiosks, which saw a 93% reduction in coffee cup lid purchases.