Sustainability Terms and Conditions

What To Expect

The Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) General Assembly provides us a chance to reaffirm a commitment to smarter practices for our exhibits. As exhibitors, you’ve committed to the following actions in support of green exhibits:

1. Have a written sustainability policy.
2. Designate a person responsible for sustainability.
3. Make sure your team knows about UUA’s sustainability goals.
4. Practice a pack-in/pack-out program.  Recycle or donate anything you won’t reuse (to avoid a charge, don’t forget to notify UUA if you leave donations!).
5. Avoid wasteful samples and giveaways.
6. Turn off all electricity during hall closures, unless perishable goods are at risk of spoiling.
7. If you have added lighting for your booth, ensure that 25% (min) is energy efficient (i.e. LED lights, EnergyStar certified computers).
8. Shipping freight? Use a SmartWay certified hauler.
9. Use a water reclamation system in booths if a water element is used.
10. Have sustainability criteria for purchasing of booth materials. This means purchased materials will consider attributes like fairness, reuse potential, recyclability, etc.
11. Minimize use of packaging.
12. Donate re-useable materials, including safe food items.

Terms & Conditions: What you can expect

Step 1: Selection
About a month before the General Assembly, UUA will select 20% of exhibitors at random to discuss their compliance with the Exhibitor Terms and Conditions above.  

Step 2: Interview
UUA’s independent sustainability partner, MeetGreen®, will reach out to the selected exhibitors via telephone.  

Step 3: Onsite evaluation
Once onsite, MeetGreen® will visit your booth and talk with selected exhibitors in person.  Note that MeetGreen® will be onsite during GA and may take note of any concerns with exhibits, even if your booth wasn’t selected for review.

Step 4: Notification of non-compliance
During the show, no exhibitor will be removed from the hall during GA if found to contravene the green terms and conditions. Any exhibitor not complying with the T&C will receive a notice via email following GA. This notice will identify the issue, and will provide a list of possible solutions.  

Step 5: Make corrections
Non-conforming exhibitors will be permitted to exhibit again, and have until the next GA (12 months) to address the problem. The exhibitor will automatically be selected to be audited again to confirm compliance through the same process as the previous year. If after a second year onsite at GA the exhibitor still has non-conformities, they won’t be able to renew to have a booth in the following year unless it can be shown that the issue is resolved in advance.

For questions related to sustainable exhibitions, please contact Michael Luehrs at Michael@meetgreen.com.