Here is a list of six venues that are not only environmentally conscious, they are built with the environment in mind!
1. The Direct Energy Centre | The Direct Energy Centre is part of the Exhibition Place family and the Ex is known for being one of the only venues in North America to have its own 30 storey wind turbine, pretty cool huh? But that’s not all, the Direct Energy Centre donates perishable foods to shelters and food banks in the City of Toronto and food waste is donated to local farmers to enhance their crops.
They also have a compostable food packaging and recycling program and use 100% post consumer recycled paper printed with soy vegetable inks for letterhead, business cards, printed materials and envelopes. The Direct Energy Centre is all about emphasizing and practicing the three R’s; Reduce, Reuse and Recycle!
2. Kamp Kawartha | Features an environment centre located adjacent to Trent University and can host up to 80 attendees. It is built out of straw bale and pre-fabricated straw bale walls, hempcrete and slip straw insulation, grid tied solar panels, waterless composting toilets, a rain water collection system with a wetland water treatment system, roof top garden and more – this venue is truly sustainable from the ground up and would be perfect for your green event! 3. Intercontinental Hotel Toronto - Yorkville | It’s hard to find hotels that are truly green because many hotels put the responsibility on the guest. Often times its difficult to know what the hotel is really doing to promote sustainability. Well, there is no need to question green initiatives at the Intercontinental Hotel Yorkville.
The Intercontinental Hotel Yorkville is a green hotel leader and has several green initiatives including paperless meetings, the use of aeration where possible to reduce water consumption, a rooftop garden for herbs, biodegradable take-out containers, recycled meeting pads and compost friendly pens – The intercontinental is truly keeping it green!
4. Toronto Congress Centre | The Toronto Congress Centre is possibly the most eco-friendly venue of them all because from its construction phase 75% of the demolished building materials, except for the steel framing, were diverted, reused or recycled. They also have many additional green features such as zero waste option for events, energy efficient lighting and solar faucets, linen-free meeting rooms, green roof technologies, xeriscape, low flow and auto-flush plumbing and more. This high class venue has spared no expense going green!
5. Kortright Centre for Conservation | Kortright is located north of Toronto and is surrounded by trees, 325 hectares of woodlands to be exact! We have had the pleasure of using this venue for a wedding and I have to say, we were pretty impressed. It is so beautiful and serene, hosting a corporate event here would be no different. Kortright offers local and sustainable menus, a customizable GPS team building program specific to the centre and is a 100% Bullfrog powered facility.
They focus on renewable energy and sustainability, offering workshops and house tours at one of the greenest houses in the GTA. The Archetype Sustainable House is LEED certified and demonstrates how viable sustainable living is. How cool would it be to host your green event here?
6. YMCA Education Learning Centre | This facility is located just outside of Kitchener, Ontario and is perfect for retreats, team building and other corporate meetings. There are two buildings located at the YMCA Learning Centre including the Solarium and the Burrows. The centre itself generates and stores its own energy onsite with photovoltaic panels, a small wind turbine, and a battery system. It also has its own solar aquatic waste water treatment system. Most of the building materials used are reused and recycled and the Burrows building itself is built into a hill. Now that's pretty green!
When planning a corporate event we often times choose a venue based on convenience rather than thinking how our choice could affect our environment. Choosing a venue that can significantly reduce our ecological footprint would be wise as it helps to reduce waste and consumption as well benefit local vendors and suppliers within that venue area.
Make an impact and go green!
Note: Bonafide Events is not partnered with any of the green venues mentioned above and they are solely listed for their green practices and initiatives. Should you choose to keep it green at your next event, your event planner will be able to suggest the appropriate green venue to accommodate your specific event needs and objectives.
Do you think choosing a green venue would be beneficial to your event guests? How responsible do you feel for reducing our ecological footprint?
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