Sustainability is "at the cornerstone" of Ignition

Sustainability the ‘Cornerstone’ of Bristol Events Firm

Sustainability is "at the cornerstone" of a Bristol-based events specialist, a senior figure at the company has told Insider, with the Queen's Award-winning business also outlining its plans to further reduce its carbon footprint.

Ignition is a Bristol-based SME specialising in the design and production of sustainable exhibitions and experiences globally.

It is already carbon neutral for Scope 1 and 2 of the Greenhouse Gas Protocol, and aims to achieve zero-waste-to-landfill for every exhibition it designs.

The company also hopes to reduce its own carbon emissions by 10 per cent annually until it becomes completely carbon neutral.

Speaking to Insider, chief marketing officer Lindie Kramers said: "Sustainability is the cornerstone of our business and the principle on which it was founded, with the vision to balance people and planet with profit whilst delivering great work for our clients.

"For those clients who are not interested in a modular, re-usable exhibition kit, we offer a made for metamorphosis approach to design so we can adapt the components for a different use after the exhibit has ended, rather than ending up as landfill - think garden shed, backdrop for events or becoming a pop-up shop.

"We regularly speak about the subject and also try to educate our clients, prospects and suppliers on how to become more sustainable by sharing what we've learned."

Kramers noted that in the medium term, Ignition hopes to become carbon neutral "through gradual annual decreasing of emissions, combined with off-setting for any unavoidable emissions and use electric trucks to transport exhibit kit to and from our warehouse, for example".

"We are also in the process of contacting other regional Queen's Award Sustainable Development winners in different industries to help plant a tree avenue to honour The Queen's Green Canopy initiative."

Elsewhere, Ignition is designing a lightweight exhibiting kit made from sustainably sourced,100 per cent recyclable materials with the aim to rent it out to smaller clients as part of a sustainable development drive.

As far as intervention goes, Kramers believes the amount of information available "is overwhelming".

"I can see how companies wouldn't know where to start or who to listen to," she said. "If the government/UN had one single, definitive source that was easy to use and showed people how to set goals and measure sustainability effectively, it would make a big different to SMEs.

"It also seems that all industry sectors live and operate in their own silos or bubbles, rather than cross-industry sharing of resources, making it easier for businesses to practice industrial symbiosis – where one industry's waste become the raw material for another industry.

"Imagine a national materials database where you could upload your leftover materials and download someone else's."

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