• Water: Please bring your own bottles to refill with still or sparkling water from fountains across the venue.
• Public transport: Use the Metro for easy and sustainable city travel. Check routes here.
• Recycling: Dedicated recycling bins are available for easy waste separation.
• Childcare: We have a free onsite crèche, run by Nipperbout to look after your kids each day of the show.
• Passes: For Shoptalk Europe 2024, all attendee passes and lanyards will be recycled.
• Signage: All show signage is made of recyclable fabric.
• Onboarding: As part of onboarding sponsors and partners, we encourage sustainability in their materials, favoring digital collateral and eco-friendly swag.

Dive into how organisations are approaching sustainability, offering valuable frameworks, tactical advice, and takeaways in the below content sessions.

• Tuesday 4 June 2024, 9.50am-10.30am CEST
  Leveraging Tech to Build Next Generation Supply Chains: Circular, Sustainable and More
• Wednesday 5 June 2024, 9.00am-9.40am CEST
  Using Technology to Unlock and Enable Sustainability Goals

Please note that outside of these sessions, sustainability will be discussed in other sessions to some degree. Here is a snapshot of some sessions that may touch it.

• Tuesday 4th June, 4:15pm-4:55pm CEST
  Innovative Merchandising and Assortment Strategies
• Monday 3rd June, 3:25pm-4:05pm CEST
  Meeting Consumer Expectations: Balancing Between Convenience and Value
• Monday 3rd June, 3:25pm–5:45pm CEST
  Startup Pitch
• Monday 3rd June, 4:15pm-4:55pm CEST
  New Industry Research: Economic and Consumer Trends Shaping Grocery

Better Stands: Why have we joined this programme?

• 65% of waste at international events is due to stand build. So, we wanted to make a change.
• For 2024, we are part of the Better Stands pilot to reduce single use stands in favour of reusable elements.
• It provides a consistent framework to measure the sustainability of event stands.
• Stands that do reuse some of their elements can achieve bronze, silver or gold status, recognising the commitment to sustainability by the exhibitors and stand contractors.
• Read more about the programme here

Show ready stands:

• This package allows sponsors to elevate their stand onsite whilst maintaining a strong focus on sustainability.
• Everything from these show ready stands is reused or recycled after use, ensuring nothing goes to landfill.
• It achieves a gold status as part of the Better Stands programme.
• Discover more about our show-ready stands here.

• For 2023 we relocated our show to the Fira Gran Via for many reasons, including their sustainability initiatives
• The venue runs off entirely renewable energy sources.
• This saves 12,500 tonnes of CO2 annually, equivalent to planting one million trees.
• The Fira prioritizes recycling, employing technology to minimize paper and plastic consumption, leading to the recycling of 8,000 tonnes of waste annually.
• The Fira recycles the carpet used on the show floor too. For 2023, we recycled 95% of the carpet used.
• To find out more please click here

The Gastro Fira: We are also delighted to partner with the Gastro Fira, who provide all the catering for Shoptalk Europe at the Fira.

• At Shoptalk Europe 2023, accurate forecasting led to just 60kg of leftover food between 3,000 delegates, all of which was subsequently donated to Barcelona shares food (NGO) “nutrition without borders”.
• Over 50% of the food offered at Shoptalk Europe is vegetarian to keep CO2 emissions down.
• All food at our show was sourced locally, which reduces the CO2 and helps reinvests in the local economy.
• As of 2023, the Gastro Fira has eliminated all plastic from their cutlery and cup offering and only a mere 1% of plastic is consumed as a solution for plates. Alternative materials, including wood, cardboard and PLA (Polylactic Acid, an eco-friendly alternative to PET) make up the remaining 99%.
• You can read in more detail about this here.

GES: GES are our general contractors. They improve sustainable operations by driving the circular economy model. GES have also signed up to the Pledge to Net Zero at COP26 in Glasgow.

• GES have helped us ensure almost nothing from our stand builds go to landfill and are the official contractors for The Show Ready build.
• They recycle 100% of the carpet provided for shell scheme stands where possible. The carpet is converted into pellets and then turned into traffic signs.
• 100% of show floor graphics are recycled, either to waste streams some becoming fascia’s for the construction industry, and the remaining recycled to clean energy.
• Show floor graphics are recycled, either to waste streams into other products or recycled to clean energy.
• You can read in more detail about their recycling schemes here.

Aztec: Aztec is our AV partner for Shoptalk Europe.

Aztec holds a Tier 5 ESSA sustainability accreditation and has often been seen as early adopters in the roll out of sustainable practices. Their methodology Aztec practice across all our teams in both London and Barcelona. Our aim is to support and provide options for our clients whilst minimising their carbon footprint.

• For the second year in a row, we have our free onsite crèche to help working parents meaning you can bring your family with you to Barcelona and kiss goodbye to those childcare worries.
• Our leadership team at Shoptalk Europe is ~75% female.
• We aim for gender parity and increased diversity on our all our agendas.
• In 2023, our lineup included 45% women speakers, but our work is not done as we hope to hit 50% for 2024.
• We’d like to call on our global Shoptalk community to help make our industry one that’s open and equitable to not only all genders, but also people of all ethnicities, backgrounds and orientations.