Waste prevention at SANA Food and Slow Wine

By project MINEV

Published on 20 February 2025

Italy

Emilia-Romagna

Bologna

About this good practice

SANA Food is an exhibition that offers organic and healthy food companies the opportunity to link with national and international visitors. The Slow Wine Fair brings together wine producers from around the globe who are dedicated to sustainability, ethical production methods, and creating high-quality wines that honor biodiversity and local traditions.

SANA Food and Slow Wine in collaboration with BolognaFiere has addressed sustainability, by reducing their impact on the environment when the two events take place. SANA Food and Slow Wine missions represent a commitment to minimizing environmental impact, mainly through waste management, and ensuring that every aspect of the event aligns with sustainable and responsible approaches.

These events exemplify sustainable event management by prioritizing waste prevention and resource recovery. These annual events integrate eco-friendly practices throughout their organization. Key measures include achieving a 99.5% waste recovery rate, transitioning to 100% plastic-free catering, and promoting sustainable transportation options to minimize carbon footprints. Innovative initiatives, such as eliminating carpeting in exhibition areas starting in 2025, further reduce waste generation. These efforts demonstrate how business events can integrate sustainability into every aspect of their operations.

Resources needed

- Human resources: Waste management strategies have been designed by event organizers and sustainability experts collaborate to design waste management strategies.
- Infrastructure and facilities: 20,000 square meters of exhibition space

Evidence of success

During the SANA Food and the Slow Wine exhibitions, 99.5% of the waste was recovered. Key initiatives included plastic-free catering services, discounted sustainable transportation options, waste sorting by category - ensuring materials were reintroduced into the market as secondary raw materials, a paperless approach, and starting in 2025, the elimination of carpets from the exhibition corridors to simplify setup and teardown operations while reducing waste production.

Potential for learning or transfer

The Carpet-Free Event Policy implemented by SANA Food and Slow Wine serves as a model for business events to reduce waste effectively. By eliminating disposable carpets in booth corridors, the event addresses a critical environmental issue, as traditional carpet recycling remains limited, with only a fraction repurposed for innovative applications and approximately 37% of carpet waste ending up in energy recovery. This policy significantly reduces the amounts of waste generated after events, considering that the elimination of 20,000 square meters of carpeting avoids the emission of 0.81 kg of CO2 per square meter. This initiative demonstrates how eliminating non-essential materials can minimize waste while simplifying event setup and dismantling operations. For countries aiming to make their exhibitions and conferences more sustainable, this approach highlights the importance of rethinking event design and prioritizing materials that are essential, reusable, or recyclable.