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As with almost every aspect of the meetings industry, the past two years have seen a dramatic disruption in how planners approach the sustainability of their events. The pause on in-person gatherings created an opportunity for organizations to reassess their priorities around live events and how they could be run to further minimize environmental impact.&nbsp; 
 
To help meet these changing needs — and help meeting planners more effectively meet their goals — <a href="https://www.marriott.com/default.mi">Marriott International</a> is expanding and refocusing its own approach to sustainability in a range of ways. We caught up with <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/denisenaguib">Denise Naguib</a>, Global Vice President, Sustainability and Supplier Diversity, for Marriott International, to discuss the hospitality giant's evolving approach to sustainability, and how it balances its global footprint with the local, specific needs of each property and planner.&nbsp; 
 
Below are highlights from this conversation.

As in-person meetings come back, there has been growing interest from both attendees and planners to ensure these events are limiting their environmental impact as much as possible. Is Marriott seeing any shifts in attitudes toward sustainability and meetings?
Denise Naguib: Sustainability has been a priority for our customers for some time; however, a heightened focus on sustainability has become clearer throughout the past two years as we saw the opportunities to celebrate the natural world we so depend on, and destinations previously impacted by "overtourism" begin to recover. With this comes a renewed interest in sustainable travel and sustainable meeting practices as customers begin to get on the road and gather again. 
 
Pre-pandemic, we saw many key sustainability initiatives being requested, such as the reduction of single-use plastics and other disposables. While those are still in demand today, efforts to embed sustainability in meetings and events have evolved — it is now also about partnering with our customers, who have their own sustainability goals in mind, and are looking to integrate many aspects of sustainability throughout their operations and value chain.&nbsp; 
 
From a resurgence in the desire to source locally, to considerations of climate impact and supporting the local community, sustainability has long been a core part of our business strategy to ensure the resiliency and longevity of the company, as well as the communities and environments in which we operate. As we work to advance in our sustainability journey, we support our customers as they do the same.
 
As an organization, Marriott International has set ambitious goals around sustainability. Can you outline some of your sustainability goals, particularly as they relate to meetings? 
 
Naguib: Our sustainability and social impact platform, Serve 360: Doing Good in Every Direction — which puts our core value, Serve Our World, into action — guides our commitment to make a positive and sustainable impact wherever we do business.

Our sustainability strategy is multifaceted, encompassing 2025 goals from cutting food waste in half, to having 100 percent of the portfolio sustainably certified, to responsibly sourcing 95 percent of our top 10 priority categories, and reducing our overall waste to landfill by 45 percent.
It also includes our commitment to climate action: last year, we committed to set science-based emissions reduction targets with a goal to reach net-zero emissions by no later than 2050. We also signed on to the <a href="https://unfccc.int/climate-action/race-to-zero-campaign">Race to Zero</a> via the most ambitious standard, Business Ambition for 1.5, in which all participants are committed to reducing emissions across all scopes swiftly and fairly in line with the Paris Agreement, with transparent action plans and robust near-term targets.
To achieve these goals, we must operationalize responsible practices in all disciplines, including meetings and events, where we are embedding sustainable meeting practices into our standards so we can provide responsible, exemplary experiences for event attendees. Additionally, pilot programs are underway to determine which initiatives — such as providing the opportunity to offset a meeting or event — are most impactful and desirable.
A major focus of Marriott's sustainability efforts is on what is happening at the hotels. Can you share some examples of these on-site sustainability programs? 
 
 Naguib: Our hotels lead the way by implementing programming that drives progress towards our sustainability goals. 
 
For example, The <a href="https://www.ritzcarlton.com/en/hotels/california/rancho-mirage">Ritz-Carlton, Rancho Mirage</a> and five other California hotels installed a food waste reduction system, which led to 37,931 tons of food waste being diverted from landfills between November 2019 and March 2021. Given the unfortunate increase in food insecurity as a result of the pandemic, we are refocusing our food waste reduction efforts to ensure hotels implement strategies across the production chain to minimize food waste, particularly in meetings and events.
The <a href="https://www.marriott.com/en-us/hotels/wasjw-jw-marriott-washington-dc/overview/">JW Marriott Washington, DC</a> is another example of how hotels are leading the way in embedding sustainability across operations. The hotel was recently recognized with the inaugural 2021 global Energy Management Leadership award, one of the highest accolades in energy management and conservation, for reducing more than 725 metric tons of carbon emissions, equivalent to the amount of carbon that would be removed from the air by 1,532 acres of forest. Sustainability-focused meeting planners will also appreciate that the hotel composts food waste, recycles 100 percent of its waste oil for biofuel, purchases fish certified by the <a href="https://www.asc-aqua.org/">Aquaculture Stewardship Council</a>, and uses only cage-free eggs. For meetings, the hotel uses compostable packaging for boxed lunches, linen-less tables, and has water stations throughout the meeting levels. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Responsible sourcing has become a growing priority. Can you discuss how Marriott balances a global footprint with a concerted effort to source locally?
Naguib: With consumers increasingly wanting to know ingredients are sourced responsibly, both from an environmental and social perspective, we are working across our supply chain to help ensure the food and beverage products we purchase are aligned with this philosophy. Through <a href="https://serve360.marriott.com/">Serve 360</a>, we have built resources such as Marriott International's <a href="http://serve360.marriott.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Marriott-Responsible_Sourcing_Guide_August-2021.pdf">Responsible Sourcing Guide</a>, which includes core parameters for third-party vendors, including guidelines around farming operations and animal welfare, sustainable agricultural practices and techniques to reduce impact to soil health, water quality and more. This guide is a great tool for properties to ensure we are selecting the right local partners that also uphold our company core values at a community level.

As part of our 2025 Sustainability and Social Impact Goals, Marriott aims to locally source 50 percent of produce by 2025, as well as responsibly source 95 percent of our top 10 categories such as animal proteins and seafood, with many of our properties already making incredible progress towards this company-wide goal.
The industry has come to rely on technology in unexpected ways since the pandemic hit. Now that we're returning to in-person events, how is technology playing a role in sustainability efforts over the long term?
Naguib: With digital touchpoints increasingly the norm, these behavioral changes will help to advance our sustainability efforts. For example, when sales sheets and banquet orders can be digital or when meeting apps are used to connect with event attendees, we're reducing our waste footprint — or similarly by using mobile key, where available. The enhancement of tracking and reporting tools will also enable us to provide real-time data, demonstrating the reduction in environmental impacts when sustainable practices are implemented, or the actions that can be taken to do so — all of which not only drives progress towards our sustainability goals but our customers' sustainability goals as well.

Global

Article Originally Posted to Northstar Meetings Group Website (April 21, 2022)

How Marriott Is Expanding Its Sustainable Practices for Events

The COVID-19 pandemic revealed how widespread food insecurity is around the world. But did you know that 30% of global food production is wasted? Meeting planners are as aware as the rest of society about food insecurity, which is why it’s so important to review the facts about donating event leftovers to a community kitchen—something that is “well within the bounds of an organization like Marriott,” says Amy Bourne, Marriott’s senior manager, sustainability and supplier diversity.
Perhaps more important is to dig into how to reduce food waste in the first place, Bourne says. But first, a look back.
The Bill Emerson Good Samaritan Food Donation Act
Many meeting planners may still be operating under the erroneous belief that legal concerns bar them from donating leftovers and surplus food from their events to a community kitchen. But, as Bourne points out, that’s just not true. The 1996 Bill Emerson Food Donation Act established federal protection in the United States from civil and criminal liability for persons involved in the donation and distribution of food and grocery products to needy individuals when certain criteria are met. Criteria include certain safety protocols like packaging and food storage temperature. Outside of the U.S., meeting planners should check with their country and state laws and local public health officials to ensure compliance with local food donation requirements.
Ending Food Waste at Every Point
According to the World Wildlife Fund, about 11% of greenhouse gas emissions could be eliminated if food waste were brought to zero. (Aviation, by comparison, accounts for 2% of global emissions.) Donating leftovers is a positive step toward that, but it’s not a perfect solution to food waste. Enter Marriott’s Serve 360 commitment to creating positive and sustainable impact wherever the company does business. One of Serve 360’s goals is to slash food waste to landfill in half by 2025.
What does this look like in practice? In addition to ensuring food waste is not generated in the first place through improved planning and purchasing decisions, there are creative ways to prevent food waste from entering landfills. Let’s say there’s sliced watermelon on a buffet. Some properties have developed tasty recipes to turn the rind into candies that can be left in guestrooms. Another fun use for food waste? Banana peels can be dehydrated into jerky, as they have been at some of Marriott’s European properties. In 2021, the JW Marriott Hotel Bangkok transformed used coffee granules into an enticing (free!) body scrub for guests, and 14.2 tons of fruit and vegetable peels from the property were donated to a local farm for animal feed.

How to Make a Donation
What if, despite your best intentions and carefully planned ordering, your meeting still has leftovers? Bourne says there are several apps that make food donation easy by picking up leftovers from meetings. Some of these include (in the United States): <a href="https://apps.apple.com/us/app/chow-match/id1091954512">Chow Match</a>, <a href="https://apps.apple.com/au/app/copia/id1563996344">Copia</a>, <a href="https://apps.apple.com/us/app/food-finders/id1483853305">Food Finders</a>, <a href="https://apps.apple.com/us/app/mealconnect/id1230097075">MealConnect</a>, and, in the U.K., <a href="https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/too-good-to-go-end-food-waste/id1060683933">Too Good to Go</a>.
The Future of Food Waste
“Beyond our 50% reduction goal, globally, by 2025, we are continuing our work with external partners like the World Wildlife Fund,” Bourne says. One successful program that Marriott is proud to share with its hotels is hotelkitchen.org, an online toolkit that full-service hotels and food service institutions, including restaurants, cruises, and catering companies, can use to learn more strategies for reducing food waste. The toolkit was produced via a collaboration between the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), the American Hotel &amp; Lodging Association (AHLA), and the Rockefeller Foundation, with contributions from Marriott International.

“We encourage our hotels to first and foremost prevent food waste where feasible and then entertain multiple options to ensure waste does not end up in landfills.” 

Regardless of whether it’s donating food, repurposing scraps, or other diversion options such as composting, meeting planners have a responsibility to think not just about what guests will eat, but how those meals will impact the earth.

Marriott’s Senior Manager of Sustainability Explains How to Whittle Down Food Waste.

How to Manage Leftovers From Your Meeting

Over the last decade, the meetings industry has made major strides in embracing sustainable food and beverage options. Enter COVID-19, and a new world of hurdles.
COVID-19 isn’t a foodborne illness, but with social distancing in place, meeting planners turned to individual food and beverage packaging as a precautionary measure. Doing so helped alleviate stress from attendees. It also added up to a lot of waste.
So how can planners soothe people’s nerves about coronavirus-era dining while staying economically and environmentally efficient? Denise Naguib, global vice president, sustainability and supplier diversity at Marriott International, suggests tackling this challenge one step at a time.

“Think about: ‘What is one change I can make at this meeting? It’s not just about taking it all on, but thinking about one at a time, making the change and communicating effectively.”

Use these tips to help you choose individually packaged items that do the least amount of damage to the planet.
Think single-serve, not just single-use.
Individually packaged food and beverage is meant to serve one person at one time. But that doesn’t have to mean disposable, single-use packaging options.
For example, you can reduce waste by serving lunch in reusable, plastic clamshell containers or bento boxes. The same packaging can be washed, sanitized, and repurposed for lunch service on the second day of your event.

Gift individual, reusable water bottles.
In the spirit of single-serve, consider gifting reusable water bottles. Not in your budget? Share your environmental goal with your partners and vendors and see if any of them would be willing to donate branded canisters to your event.
Communicate your goals to attendees, too—let them know that the water bottles are more than just free swag, it’s also an opportunity to reduce waste. Naguib says to remember that thinking sustainably is a change for many people. “To act differently and carry their water bottles around, having refilling stations, that is a step,” she says. Layering in one change like this, one meeting at a time, not only makes it less overwhelming for you and your guests, but it also allows for a feedback loop.
“Get that feedback and insight from your own attendees to see what’s working, what’s not working, and cull ideas from them,” Naguib says.

Consider the materials.
There are ample sustainable packaging options—the trick is to find one that’s within your budget. Here are some considerations to keep in mind as you navigate what is and isn’t feasible for your next meeting.
<ul>
 <li>Glass containers for food and beverages are 100% reusable but are not always recyclable in many communities. While glass bottles (for, say, soda or iced tea) may be the first idea that pops into your mind, this could be the time to bring out your mason jars for easy pre-batching.</li>
 <li>Though paper packaging for food can be tricky to recycle, if you select paper packaging made from recycled paper, you are still reducing waste by not creating products from new materials.</li>
 <li>Metal vessels such as aluminum and stainless steel are highly reusable and readily recyclable. Opt for reusable jars or recyclable cans.</li>
 <li>When using plastic packaging, familiarize yourself with the <a href="https://www.goodhousekeeping.com/home/g804/recycling-symbols-plastics-460321/">recycling symbols</a> and make sure the recycling facilities in your meeting’s region accept that type of plastic. And avoid plastics with bisphenol A when you can.</li>
 <li>For single-use items such as straws, consider options made from biodegradable materials like paper.</li>
</ul>
Think outside the container.
Individually packaged items don’t necessarily need to be boxed or bottled. Wine glasses can be used to <a href="https://www.bizbash.com/catering-design/food-trends/media-gallery/21319420/15-lowtouch-hightaste-catering-ideas-for-live-and-virtual-events">serve starter salads</a>, and metal cutlery can be individually wrapped with cloth napkins instead of a sealed plastic pack.
And remember that individual items don’t all have to be inedible. Consider bread bowls for soup or ice cream cones to hold dessert candies. Keep an eye out for more <a href="https://www.azom.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=21377">edible packaging under development</a>, too.
Keep the big picture in mind.
As Naguib points out, communication is key. Work with your venue to place recycling and composting bins in a variety of strategic locations, and communicate these locations and your goals to everyone at your event. Additionally, make sure your recycling bins are clearly labeled, so there’s no confusion about which items can and cannot be placed inside.
If you’re reusing food and beverage packaging each day, make sure your attendees know how to use it. Create clear signage to show where water filling stations are located in your venue, or where to place materials meant to be sanitized and reused, such as mason jars and bento boxes. Doing these things will ensure everyone at your event feels safe while (re)introducing sustainability into your meeting’s mix.

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