Recycling Event Waste Helps Meetings & Communities
by Harvey ChipkinMeeting planners can dramatically reduce waste – while generating goodwill and revenues – when they hold trade shows and conventions in Las Vegas.
That’s the message from Zachary Delbex, CEO of Repurpose America, a Las Vegas company that finds ways to repurpose convention and trade show waste to benefit the community.
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Delbex, who handled logistics for trade shows for a number of years, works directly with planners to facilitate the conversion of non-recyclable materials, including printed media, display boards, registration kiosks, badges, banners.
Repurpose America serves as a clearinghouse for such materials, working with 300 community groups – including animal shelters, senior homes, hospices, community gardens and art programs – to find new uses for the waste.
A revenue source for meetings
While repurposing may be a worthy goal in itself – trade shows and conventions generate enormous quantities of waste – for meeting groups there is money to be saved and earned, Delbex said.
“We are looking at waste as a revenue source,” said Delbex. “We will work to provide income resources for associations both by reducing their costs and potentially generating revenues.”
One revenue possibility for meeting planners and his company involves working with exhibitors to market their cooperation with Repurpose America. “We can look at the entire process,” said Delbex. “We will coordinate the breakdown of their show and work as a facilitator to repurpose it.”
442 tons of waste
Delbex said he is proudest of Repurpose America’s accomplishments at a March trade show for construction industries. More than 442 tons of waste were processed from the CONEXPO-CON/AGG event. Nearly 338 tons were recycled – a recovery rate of 76%, up from 50% at the same event three years earlier.
One example of repurposing was using discarded banner material to replace a 4,000 square-foot worn-out sunshade at a pre-school for more than 65 children.
Another recent example: “We took 16 crates of wood worth $48,000 and facilitated its distribution to six different schools, where they are using it for woodworking shops and other programs.”
Magnetic materials have become learning tools for young children; wood laminate flooring is now part of a traveling church play; and hollow Roman-style pillars are planters in a meditation garden, Delbex said.
Green expectations
Curtis Love, CHE, an associate professor in the department of tourism and convention administration at the University of Las Vegas, met Delbex when Love was producing a 300-student conference and needed donations of basic materials like pens and pads. “Zach gave us enough for several conferences, and we struck up a friendship.”
Love, who now serves as interim board chairman for Repurpose America, noted that planners and attendees now expect greener meetings. “They don’t like to see the waste.”
Repurposing materials benefits groups in various ways, he said. “Rather than throwing away a ton of materials that go into a landfill, they can achieve positive marketing for their associations. They can say they’re repurposing their signage and greening their meetings.”
Understands the issues
Delbex founded his company (formerly Greener Vegas) in 2007. His previous work as a teamster involved “marshalling trucks” coming in and out of trade show floors.
“I decided there was a way to find a solution for the convention industry and at the same time benefit the community through reuse of these materials.”
In his prior work, Delbex worked with many associations, he said. “I understood the obstacles clients were facing.” One issue is distance. “The associations are usually very far away and don’t have a home base in Las Vegas, so there is no easy way to bring in and store materials.”
Delbex noted that these materials “usually are not saved for the next year’s show, because storage is more expensive than simply buying new materials.”
Repurpose America now employs 25 people, many of them veterans and persons with disabilities, and the company is still growing, Delbex said.
Looking ahead, Delbex sees the possibility of licensing franchisees around the country although, as he asserted, “the Las Vegas convention market is unlike any other, in its sheer volume.”
