At Sustainable Kingston, we do our best to walk-the-talk at all our events. We see it is an opportunity to demonstrate simple and effective ways to make an event more sustainable. We are proud of the numerous initiatives that will reduce the environmental impact of the event and promote building a more livable and resilient city.

Keep reading to learn how Sustainable Kingston is doing its best to walk-the-talk and promote our Six Priority Areas at the Evening of Recognition on May 30, 2019.

Food Security- ZERO Waste

To address issues of Environmental Stewardship and local Food Security, Sustainable Kingston will ensure the event is zero waste with nothing going to landfill.

Sustainable Kingston is working with St. Lawrence to eliminate all garbage bins as everything at the event can be reused, recycled, donated, or composted.

We are also excited to partner with Loving Spoonful and FoodRescue.ca to donate any rescuable food to be redistributed in the community after the event. Any non-rescuable food will be sent to a local farm to ensure no food is wasted.

A vegetarian meal with vegan options throughout will be served to further reduce the event's environmental impact.

Climate Action- Carbon Neutral and LEED Gold Targeted Building

Through a Carbonzero sponsorship, the Evening of Recognition will be a carbon neutral event.

These offsets will go toward supporting the Southern Quebec Afforestation Project: http://www.carbonzero.ca/projects/southern-quebec-afforestation-project-sqap

This year's Evening of Recognition will be held at St. Lawrence College's newest building that is targeting LEED Gold Certification. To be certified, this building will consume 57% less energy and will have 64% less GHG emissions, when compared to a conventional building construction. 20% of materials used had recycled content and 35% was regionally sources. 100% of the wood selected was sustainably harvested and 90% of the construction waste was diverted from landfills.

Economic Prosperity- Local Winery and Brewery

Sustainable Kingston is partnering with Bergeron Estate Winery and MacKinnon Brothers to showcase the vibrancy of the local economy.

Bergeron Estate Winery is THE closest winery to the venue and will be providing wine and cider samples.

MacKinnon Brothers produces unique beers using ingredients sourced solely from their farm. 2018 is their third year producing this 100% farm beer.

Environmental Stewardship – Awards and Centre Pieces

As part of our Evening of Recognition, we present awards to individuals, businesses, and organizations making Kingston a more livable and resilient city. This year, to make our awards as sustainable as possible, we will make them from local reclaimed wood.

Through a generous donation from the Cataraqui Region Conservation Authority and a partnership with Root Radical CSA, 30 trees will be planted at an organic farm on Howe Island. It will be part of a bigger tree-planting project to increase wildlife habitat and biodiversity near streams and hedgerows.

(we even reused the mason jars from last year’s centre pieces!)

Sense of Community- Supporting Local Artists

To celebrate local art and culture, Sustainable Kingston is proud to showcase a local musician during the networking portion of the event.

Sustainable Transportation

We are partnering with Kingston Transit to provide free bus transportation for ticket holders. Just show your ticket on May 30th to get to and from the event for free!

St. Lawrence College has solar powered e-bike charging stations and electrical vehicle charging stations available.

There are also many bicycle racks around the campus, so jump on your own or try out Drop Bikes!

Want to see these fun initiatives in action? Come to the event this Thursday!

Want to implement these strategies in your own events? Contact Tess at tess@sustainablekingston.com for information on how to do these.