9 - 11 April 2025
Cape Town

Sustainability obligations for exhibitors

There is an increasing amount of legislation with regards to material waste and its disposal. For events, this legislation puts increasing responsibilities on the venue and organisers to ensure that waste is now separated before it leaves the exhibition site and that the maximum amount of material goes to be recycled rather than going to landfill.

Aside from the environmental impact, the cost of disposing of waste (whether recyclable or not) is increasing annually so all parties are keen to reduce unnecessary waste.

As most of the physical material in the halls is there to be part of exhibitor stands, it is not surprising that most of the waste generated onsite belongs to exhibitors. We need you to help us manage the waste from your stand if we are going to make any improvements. Experience has shown that most of your waste comes from the actual construction and dismantling of the stand and any marketing collateral that you or your exhibiting partners bring.

Cleaning

Please remind any suppliers building your stand that stand fitting materials, carpet, pallets etc are not included in the show cleaning service and must be removed by either you or your supplier. At this time we generally still dispose of small pieces of material during the build and breakdown but you are contractually obliged to dispose of all stand fitting material.

Recycling

If recycling bins are available onsite please ensure that you and any suppliers that you employ use them responsibly. Mixing materials in a recycling bin usually means that the whole bin has to go to landfill. Recycling bins will become more prevalent in our exhibitions as separating materials at source is the most effective solution.

Marketing Collateral

You and your exhibiting partners should only bring sufficient marketing collateral for the show and any material left at the end of the show should be taken back to your office. Shipping services are available onsite and any collateral left onsite is chargeable.

Waste

Our contract is with you and we treat any subcontractor that you hire yourselves as part of your organisation. Therefore any waste generated by your supplier will be charged to you. It is then up to you to charge this on to your supplier. Reed Exhibitions does not mark up any waste charges at this time but the venue charges that we pass on are usually punitive. Please note that CCTV and discreet marking of stand fitting materials is now routinely used to help identify waste and a contractor dumping their waste away from the stand rarely saves you being charged. As the client, your stand builder will not dump waste if they believe that it will affect their contract with you.

Disposal

If you need assistance shipping or disposing of any materials please contact us. Facilities exist for shipping or disposing of materials onsite and if planned in advance we can help you in a cost effective way.

Can't find what you're looking for?

If you can't find the answer you are looking for, please contact our Customer Services Team who will be happy to help.