The Convention Industry Council (CIC)’s Accepted Practices Exchange

(APEX) Panel on Green Meeting and Event Practices today released the final draft standards for green meetings and events for review and comment by the meetings industry. The process of developing green standards has been a partnership between the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Green Meeting Industry Council (GMIC), APEX and ASTM International to answer the need in the meeting and event industry for a uniform measurement of environmental performance.

The APEX panel and hundreds of volunteers have devoted countless hours of discussion and refinement over the past two years to draft what will be a very well planned first step in solidifying green meeting practices. These standards are an attempt to create a level playing field of what constitutes "green" for the industry.

Nine individual topic areas comprise the entire standard and nine separate committees were charged with developing the standards. Those topic areas include Accommodations, Audio Visual, Communication, Exhibits, Food and Beverage, On-site Office, Destinations, Meeting Venue and Transportation. The draft standards will now go out to the industry for review and comment through APEX City Discussion Groups and a blog as well as to the ASTM International for its review process.

City Discussion Groups, events akin to town hall meetings, will be held over the course of the next few weeks in the following cities:
Atlanta, Baltimore, Washington, DC, Ft Meyer, Winnipeg, San Antonio, Denver and San Francisco. Those interested in participating in a discussion group may register through the APEX website at www.apexsolution.org.

For those not in proximity to a discussion group, the APEX virtual blog site provides for greater access and participation. The draft standards may be accessed and feedback given at http://wp.apexsolution.org

Suggested changes and feedback will be reviewed by the committees and incorporated if appropriate and then submitted in final to ASTM. All comments, whether by City Discussion Group or by blog, are due September 11th in order to be considered before the standards are submitted to ASTM in final format. It is anticipated that the final standards approved by both ASTM and the APEX Commission will be complete by year-end.