Companies clock in green minutes

Have you thought of arranging a green meeting for a change? Not the al fresco kind, but one held right in the conference room of a plush hotel.

 We are talking about eco-friendly meetings being hosted in hotels, which have an increasing number of corporations lining up to do their bit.

Renaissance Hotel, Powai, is one of them. Gagandeep Singh, the hotel’s director food and beverages, says, “We have been promoting environment-related solutions since last year by marketing local produce innovatively; the initiative had garnered a good response. So, we came up with this innovative concept.”

In the past year, the hotel experienced a palpable increase in demand and the number of enquiries for green meetings. Apart from the biggies, even small firms have shown interest in the idea.

The conference room setting in this case is like any other; the differentiator being that the accessories of the meeting are eco-friendly. There are no plastic glasses or even mineral water bottles. Good old glasses and jugs are used, instead. The linen is pure cotton, and not synthetic. And the hotel’s extensive green menu lists local produce, like aam papad, imli golis and herbal sweets, without the wrapping. Recycled paper notepads and recycled pencils constitute stationery.

Swedish Trade tried out the option recently. Amrit Hinduja, a consultant with the company, says, “The conference we organised was about sustainability and corporate responsibility. Since it was related to the environment, we decided to go completely green. The hotel provided us with just the facility required for our meeting.”

Tata Quality Management Services is another organisation that endorsed the idea. Chetna Kashmiri, a senior consultant of the company, says, “As an organisation, we focus on climate change a lot. And a green meeting goes best with what we propagate as
an organisation.”

Hinduja claims that he received a positive feedback from his team once the green meeting concluded. “Everyone was surprised, and loved the idea. An energy-saving LCD projector was used during the meeting. Saplings and seeds were handed out in the end as presents, which was the best part,” Hinduja says.

These conferences also sport a green ambience. “The table cloth was light green, giving the room a cool, pleasant look. Even the pencils were made of recycled paper, which was an interesting concept,” Kashmiri says.

Rodas, an ecotel, Powai, too, has been receiving a large number of booking requests. Daniel Chatterton, front office manager and green team officer of the hotel, says, “Companies are increasingly becoming environmentally conscious and are taking that extra step to make a difference.” The hotel even discourages faxing, as it consumes a lot of paper. Rather, email is their preferred means of communication.

Unfortunately, though, many companies back out of initiatives like green meetings because of costs. “The approximate price of such a meeting would be Rs100-200 more per person (compared to a regular meeting),” Hinduja says. But all that comes with a green meeting — gifts, green menu and a sense of having contributed to the environmental cause, makes it “completely worth” the cost.
Hinduja hopes that people understand the gravity of the issue.

“Green meeting is one initiative, and a lot more needs to be done,” he says. Kashmiri echoes a similar sentiment, “You can’t just close your eyes on reality. The fact is that the climate is getting affected and something needs to be done about it. Green meeting is a small and significant way of bringing about a change.”