The Marina Bay Sands in Singapore has become the first event and conference venue outside the United States to be certified under a new international sustainability standard in the MICE space.
Marina Bay Sands achieved level-one certification in accordance with the ASTM Standard pertaining to the evaluation and selection of venues for environmentally sustainable meetings, events, tradeshows and conferences. The venue standard is one of nine introduced by the meetings, conventions, exhibitions and events industry in 2012 to provide event planners and suppliers with specifications for producing events in a more sustainable manner.
“Marina Bay Sands is proud to be the first Asian venue to attain the ASTM Venue certification. This is a significant achievement that recognizes our extensive and ongoing commitment towards sustainable practices in our daily operations,” said Mike Lee, vice president of sales, Marina Bay Sands. “With this global accolade, we aspire to lead by example and further cement our position as Asia’s leading MICE provider.”
All clients benefit from Marina Bay Sands’ standard sustainable practices, which are seamlessly incorporated into its operations. These practices include:
- Resource conservation with state-of-the-art equipment and lighting-management systems.
- Waste diversion with recycling, composting and charitable-donation programs.
- Indoor air-quality management.
- Responsible purchasing with reduced packaging and sustainable office supplies; and,
- Sustainable banquet practices.
In early 2013, Marina Bay Sands launched the Sands ECO360° Meetings Program to provide environmentally preferable choices and options to meeting planners and clients. This program is a holistic approach towards sustainability and is a pivotal part of the Sands ECO360° Global Sustainability strategy developed by its parent company, the Las Vegas Sands Corp.
The industry’s first and only comprehensive standards for environmentally sustainable meetings were created through a partnership of the Convention Industry Council’s APEX initiative and ASTM International, a leader in the development and delivery of international voluntary consensus standards.
The standards are composed of performance standards in nine individual sectors, and were initiated by the Green Meetings Industry Council (GMIC) in discussions with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The GMIC is the only green-meeting organization that is a member of the Convention Industry Council.
“Responsible environmental and social practices in the meeting industry is a global concern,” said Tamara Kennedy, executive director, GMIC. “We are delighted to see Marina Bay Sands lead the way in Singapore.”
The ASTM venue standard outlines the procedural requirements for venue selection – the practice of researching, evaluating and choosing the facility for an event. The standard specifies performance criteria for staff management, communications, waste management, energy, air quality, water, procurement and community partners.
iCompli, a division of BPA Worldwide, a non-profit international auditing organization headquartered in Shelton, Conn., developed the certification protocols for the ASTM standards and performed the independent third-party certification of Marina Bay Sands’ compliance.
