Metro Toronto Convention Centre: First Canadian Venue to Achieve International Sustainability Standard Certification for Meetings and Events

TORONTO, Dec. 12, 2013 /CNW/ - Metro Toronto Convention Centre (MTCC), Canada's premier convention and meeting facility, has become the first conference venue in Canada to be certified to a new international sustainability standard.  The American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) Certification is awarded to venues that achieve high standards in environmentally sustainable meetings, trade shows, and conferences. The venue standard is one of nine standards 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.  The MTCC has been recognized as achieving Level One certification of venues. 

"We are excited to be the first Canadian Convention Centre to attain ASTM Venue certification.  Certification to the industry's global standard is further evidence of our ongoing commitment to sustainability," said Barry Smith, President and CEO of the MTCC.

"This is great news for the Metro Toronto Convention Centre and all of us working to make Toronto a more sustainable destination choice for convention planners," said David Whitaker, President and CEO of Tourism Toronto.  The Convention and Visitors Bureau, Tourism Toronto achieved Level One certification to the ASTM Destination Standard earlier this year.

The ASTM Venue Standard delineates the procedural requirements for venue selection -- the practice of researching, evaluating and choosing the facility for an event. The standard details specific performance criteria for staff management, communications, waste management, energy, air quality, water, procurement, and community partners. The nine standards were created in partnership with ASTM International, an ANSI-accredited standards development organization.

Michael Luehrs, President of the Green Meeting and Industry Council (GMIC), the non-profit professional meetings association that led the development of the ASTM Sustainable Meeting Standards, added, "Responsible environmental and social practices in the meeting industry is a global concern.  We congratulate the Metro Toronto Convention Centre on this achievement and hope that this will encourage others in the Toronto meetings and convention industry to pursue certification."

iCompli, a division of BPA Worldwide, a non-profit international auditing organization headquartered in Shelton, Connecticut developed the certification protocols for the ASTM standards and performed the independent third party certification of MTCC's compliance with the venue standard. Glenn Hansen, CEO of BPA Worldwide, commented, "Our certification of the event sustainability standards driven by GMIC and now adopted by the MTCC continues our long-standing partnership with the event industry to promote transparency."

About the Metro Toronto Convention Centre
The Metro Toronto Convention Centre is Canada's number one convention and trade show facility. Over the past 29 years, the Centre has hosted approximately 15,000 events, entertained more than 40 million guests and has added $4.7 billion in direct spending and economic impact to the community. For further information, please visit www.mtccc.com.

About the Green Meeting Industry Council
The Green Meeting Industry Council is a non-profit, membership-based professional organization which provides educational resources to planners, suppliers, and venues seeking to meet the ever-rising standards consumers set for sustainable meetings. www.gmicglobal.org

About iCompli
iCompli is a division of BPA Worldwide, a not-for-profit auditing organization established in 1931 to audit circulation for publishers, advertisers and their agencies. Today, BPA's audit services have expanded to include external assurance of government and industry standards and independent verification of companies' technology and service claims. iCompli provides GRI reporting services (gap analysis, competitor benchmarking and external assurance) and third-party certification of ASTM and ISO event standards. www.icomplisustainability.com

SOURCE: Metro Toronto Convention Centre

Christine Tse
Metro Toronto Convention Centre
416-585-8106
[email protected]