Pretoria, September 02: The CSIR International Convention Centre (CSIRICC) in Pretoria has been awarded a silver classification for its efforts towards greener operations, the Heritage Environmental Management Company said on Wednesday.
“The CSIRICC’s commitment to addressing its impacts can clearly be seen in the enthusiasm with which the convention centre is applying more environmentally friendly operating practices,” said Heritage director Neal Dickson.
The decision to award the silver classification was taken based on the convention centre’s waste separation and management systems, energy efficient lighting and consumption management.
It also recognised its use of indigenous plants in its gardens, recent installation of water meters to effectively manage water consumption, and inclusion in its management systems of CSIR group policies which have an environmental impact on its operations.
CSIRICC general manager Glenn Harding said one of their clients commissioned Heritage to do a baseline audit of its 2009 national conference for future benchmarking purposes.
“We believe that this will also assist us further in promoting green conferences to other clients who share our commitment towards the environment and reducing the impact of their events hosted at our centre.
“We are embarking on a process to address current shortcomings with a view to achieving gold certification next time round.”
The CSIRICC joined the Heritage Programme in July this year and was already implementing Heritage’s recommendations in an effort to further improve its overall performance standard.
The CSIRICC joins the Sandton Convention Centre in Johannesburg and the International Convention Centre in Durban as the only independently certified, environmentally responsible conference and exhibition facilities in South Africa.
—Agencies