As up to 4,000 participants were expected to visit the event, it was a great opportunity to communicate the vending industry's proactive approach on the subject.

Crucial questions addressed during the various conferences included:

• Can businesses be successful while also using resources in a sustainable way?
• How is Europe going to deal with the growing mountains of waste?
• How can consumers shop ‘responsibly'?
• What is the best way to recycle, and does it make a difference?
• How can we best combat the effects of climate change?
• How can we switch to using sustainable means of transport?
• Can big construction projects such as the London Olympics 2012 be truly ‘green'?

As EU countries grapple with ambitious targets to reduce carbon emissions, the Green Week brought together experts on these and related subjects, which have become vital questions for business leaders, politicians, scientists and, indeed, for ordinary people.

There was an exhibition of innovative projects in the field of sustainable development from across Europe, high-level debates, presentations of the latest evidence, and opportunities for interviews with experts from the Commission, as well as from national and local authorities, research institutions, NGOs and the commercial sector.

Great opportunity

The EVA had to compete with several hundreds of corporate and trade association bodies to have the opportunity of a stand at the Green Week. Catherine Piana, Director of the EVA, said: "This was a great opportunity to tell the good story of vending and to position ourselves on a subject which has quickly made it to the top of the political and legal agenda.

The EVA stand featured its members' wide-ranging initiatives to contribute to the protection of the environment. PowerPoint presentations provided by the EVA members ran throughout, demonstrating the proactive attitude that the vending industry is taking. The EVA's Rozenn Maréchal and Nina Poumpalova took it in turns on the stand to inform visitors about the vending industry's green initiatives.

The French Vending Association, NAVSA, was represented by Myriam Decoeur-Michel, its Director, who has been leading an initiative in France to give the vending industry a high profile in eco-efficiency. She presented pencils made with recycled cups, and NAVSA's nutrition charter on recycled paper, as well as other front-running initiatives taken by the French Association.

The EVA has a permanent special page on the environment on its website (http://www.vending-europe.eu/), which brings together all its members' initiatives in this area. This is a dynamic page to which all EVA Members are invited to contribute. It gives them and the vending industry in general, a high profile vis-à-vis the thousands of EVA website visitors, including the press, key industry players, national and European authorities, investors, consultants, etc.

Catherine continued: "Ultimately, this is an opportunity for this industry to ‘educate' multipliers about vending; in other words, instead of getting frustrated at the negative stories in the press (as we have witnessed in the past about obesity, and sometimes also about the environment), occupying that space with positive stories and creating a virtuous circle. The good stories are there, so let's speak up and make sure everyone hears them!"

http://www.vending-europe.eu/