SETAC Europe 36th Annual Meeting

We strongly advise our participants to travel by train where possible, or to choose direct flights when air travel is necessary, as these options help reduce overall emissions. Additionally, participants are encouraged to combine their meeting attendance with additional events or professional activities during their stay, helping to reduce decentralised travel throughout the year.

Maastricht makes an ideal host city partly due to its strong rail connectivity, which enables lower-carbon travel options for many participants. The city is well connected to major European rail hubs, making it easily accessible by train for participants travelling from across Europe. Maastricht’s compact layout and efficient public transport network further support sustainable mobility once onsite, reducing the need for car travel.

Please have a look at the Venue and City or the Travel to Maastricht webpages for more detailed information on transport options within and to Maastricht.

With its commitment to sustainability, the MECC Maastricht is a premier venue for international conferences.

Their high standards earned them the Green Key Gold certification, which they’ve had since 2010. The Green Key Gold Label is the highest achievable level within the national certification scheme, demonstrating the MECC’s commitment to corporate social responsibility.

The MECC Maastricht proudly communicates its actions with supporting facts. Additionally, you can download a detailed corporate social responsibility pdf explaining their mission, vision, and commitment.

Vermaat Events (the MECC’s exclusive in-house caterer) is committed to making a positive impact on the world through its sustainability initiatives.

They have committed to offsetting the emissions from their cars and trucks by planting a tree for every amount of CO₂ emitted during SETAC Europe’s 36^th Annual Meeting. Additionally, they strive to employ as many local staff as possible to minimise travel distances.

To eliminate food waste, they use a smart container that measures and tracks daily food waste, then develops recommendations to bring the waste down to zero. Additionally, they provide sustainable containers and invite guests to take home remaining food instead of letting it go to waste. Finally, if any scraps remain, they have designated bins with information on composting and recycling to inspire guests to adopt eco-friendly practices.

Additionally, the following practices are in place:

• The SETAC Europe Annual Meeting is a fully vegetarian meeting. Only vegetarian and vegan options are served.
• The focus lies on seasonal and local food to reduce the impact on the environment and stimulate the local economy.
• Where possible, Fair Trade-certified products are served.
• Organic, biodynamic food from farmers that are committed to animal welfare, MCS- or ASC-certified seafood.
• Numerous initiatives are taken to avoid food waste.
• Mineral water is provided (please bring your own reusable bottle!).
• Non-disposable cutlery (biodegradable cups and dishes) is used to avoid all use of plastic.

• We encourage participants to choose an environmentally certified hotel (EU Ecolabel, EMAS, etc.).
• Additionally, we recommend that all participants check whether a hotel is Green Key-certified. See more at the Green Key website (Green Key - The International Ecolabel for Tourism).

• To avoid unnecessary printing, we don’t print tickets for our social events but instead include the tickets in the QR code of each participant.
• When choosing the menus for our social events, we always request sustainable and local food.

• When asked about requiring a conference bag, 85% of our participants indicated that they like to receive one. We have, therefore, kept our bags, but we ensure their reusability at other SETAC events by not printing any meeting logos, destinations, or dates on them. Bags that are not used are given to local schools and/or charity organisations. Additionally, bags are made from 100% recycled cotton. 
• In response to the high demand of our attendees, we remain committed to printing a programme book. However, we have considerably reduced the number of pages of the programme book and continue to lessen unnecessary printed information by providing some information on the virtual platform instead. Additionally, the programme book is printed on recycled paper.
• All meeting announcements and invitations are electronic.
• Any eco-friendly notebooks not used at the meeting are donated to local schools and/or charity organisations.
• Badges are eco-friendly, and the lanyards are reused at future meetings.
• Flags and banners are reused every year.
• We use as much digital signage in the congress centre as possible and keep any printed fabric to a minimum.

• Prior to the meeting, exhibitors will receive instructions encouraging them to reduce waste as much as possible, including a message of reconsidering their policy regarding gadgets, etc. SETAC’s policy on sustainability will be integrated into the exhibitor’s manual.