The sustainable trade fair appearance at LogiMAT was just the beginning for us.
Sustainability by tradition
A holistic approach to rethinking events
Adopting circularity as a strategic principle, STILL has taken a holistic approach to sustainability that is being increasingly embraced and integrated into the everyday work of all employees. In doing so, the intralogistics specialist has long looked beyond its core business and aims to establish sustainability as a core part of its public image.
A key starting point for this is the major trade fairs and events at which STILL regularly presents itself to industry professionals. LogiMAT 2024 provided the perfect setting in which to launch the first phase of a comprehensive sustainability concept. After all, ‘Sustainability by tradition’ also means establishing new sustainability traditions.
300 ideas – one goal
So, how can we make our trade fair appearances as sustainable as possible? Not just superficially, but comprehensively and transparently — in other words, in concrete, tangible terms that can be measured, such as CO₂ emissions, waste volume, and water and electricity consumption? These questions were addressed at a large internal workshop in August 2023. The focus was on ideas that went beyond those implemented in previous years, such as using buses instead of taxis and reducing the amount of meat served in catering. Within one day, marketing and communications specialists gathered more than 300 ideas on event-specific topics such as catering, accommodation/hotels, trade fair construction/technology, processes, logistics, and social issues.
“Just seven months later, we implemented the first phase of our comprehensive sustainable trade fair concept at LogiMAT, the world's leading intralogistics trade fair in Stuttgart,” explains Jan-Christoph Sachse, Senior Director of Marketing & Brand Communications at STILL. In addition to regional sourcing, waste reduction, and the consideration of social and ecological criteria when selecting the stand builder and other suppliers, the workshop focused particularly on one thing: the recycling of the exhibition stand.
Creating something new from waste
For years, STILL has focused on keeping trade fair equipment in circulation so that it can continue to be used by the company. The next step was to find a solution for materials that could not be reused. There is no question that the recycling of trade fair stands works very well. At LogiMAT, STILL became the first company to collaborate with Trash Galore, a Leipzig-based start-up committed to making events circular and subsequently promoting social projects. This means that materials are kept in the cycle rather than being disposed of. Trash Galore takes care of the collection and distribution of these materials to social projects in the region that can put them to good use and create something new.
For LogiMAT, this meant around 650 kilograms of trade fair materials, including textiles, wood, and plastic, were kept in circulation instead of being thrown away. The materials were distributed locally – i.e. as sustainably as possible – to four non-profit organisations in the Stuttgart area. An added benefit was that reusing the materials also saved more than 5,000 kilograms of carbon dioxide equivalent.
Transparency thanks to the ‘Reuse Report’
For maximum transparency, Trash Galore and STILL documented the reuse of materials in a publicly available „Reuse Report“. STILL also collected detailed data on various aspects of the trade fair, including the transportation of exhibition materials, electricity consumption and the mobility of the stand team.
Valuable insights
“We were able to demonstrate what a sustainable trade fair presence can look like in an exemplary manner. But LogiMAT was just the beginning,” predicts Sachse. The event also provided valuable insights: It revealed the significant amount of waste generated despite the deliberate selection of a stand builder specialising in ‘reusable exhibition stands’, and it showcased the existing opportunities for collaboration to donate much of this ‘waste’ to social organisations that value and utilise the material.
For STILL, this is the perfect opportunity to continue thinking creatively about how resources of all types, not just in the event sector, can be used in a circular manner.