In her own words: Lindsay Smith

'Green' director shares convention center strategies

By Jerd Smith, Rocky Mountain News

Published August 27, 2008 at 12:05 a.m.
Updated August 27, 2008 at 1:23 a.m.

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Smith eyes factors such as work lights, idling engines.

Deep inside the Colorado Convention Center is the office of Lindsay Smith, 30. Hired in January, Smith is the center's first sustainability director and the first her employer, SMG - the world's largest property management company - has hired.

Smith talks about the marathon effort to turn the convention center, the size of 12 football fields, the hue everyone is seeking these days at the DNC: green.

When I was working for an event marketing company in Seattle, I saw how much waste was produced at events. That seemed wrong. Here, I have a lot of freedom, and it's been fun.

For instance, when we used to prepare for an event to come in, our lights would be at 100 percent, even though we can have them at different levels of brightness. Now, if we're just setting up, we keep the lights at 50 percent until about an hour before the event, when they go to 100 percent. Some days, if it's sunny, we've actually been able to turn the lights off, and not a single client has commented.

I don't have a budget so everything I do needs to be effective. Everything I do has to be proven. There was a cost increase between using 100 percent post- consumer paper and virgin paper. So we looked at what reports can we produce electronically. This year (we've cut back on paper)to the point that the cost increase is offset because we're using less of it.

With recycling, to a certain extent, we're at the mercy of whatever our groups bring with them. So we put check lists online of materials that they can bring in that can be recycled or composted. We tell our food and beverage contractors to use bulk condiments, instead of individual packages, and to use china instead of paper plates and plastic forks.

For the DNCC events we'll have 28 to 30 resource recovery stations. Each will be manned by volunteers. We think for the DNCC, it's very possible to get an 85 percent reduction in the waste stream. To provide incentives to our clients, we charge for their trash hauls but not their recycling hauls.

Idling engines is a really big deal for us because we have so much shipping that comes here. Some trucks idle for eight hours. So we started an observation period in February.

We're looking at using some social marketing techniques to create some value for people instead of just slapping them with fines.

We've put up 18 signs asking people not to idle or to reduce the time. We've ordered clocks for cab drivers and buses to see if that helps boost their awareness.

Contact Jerd Smith at smithj@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-5474

Greening of the Convention Center

* Lights lowered to 50 percent capacity in off-peak times

* Paper consumption cut substantially

* Signs urge trucks, cabs, buses to reduce idling time

* Recyclables hauled away at no charge

* Ambitious composting program in effect

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