Sustainability

How Busan is Building its Sustainable Reputation

26th November 2020

Beyond delivering obvious economic benefits, business events also have a duty to build a bright future to the generations to come. As the global community is growing – with people more interconnected and interdependent than ever – it’s important for all stakeholders of the meetings industry to operate sustainable events. 

Busan is running a new campaign whose slogan, ‘GREEN MICE GREEN BUSAN’, is in line with what the city’s economy is about. The objective of the campaign is to promote and create a sustainable MICE environment, applying green ideas at all stages of event planning.

Think Together!

It all started when Busan Tourism Organization created a contest for the members of Busan MICE Alliance. Everybody had to come up with innovative ideas promoting sustainable initiatives. Needless to say they blossomed! For instance, Busan Cinema Center, one of Busan’s unique venues, suggested a campaign to raise awareness on the ever-growing concentrations of ultrafine dust particles, while Manmanhan_Nyeoseokdeul, an event rental service company, suggested another one promoting the systemic use of recycling products.

Green movies

In collaboration with Korea Green Foundation, the ‘GREEN MICE GREEN BUSAN’ campaign is also promoting two environment-friendly movies through a parallel project called Green Cinema. The first one, The Forum, is a 2019 German-Swiss documentary about the World Economic Forum in Davos and its 81-year-old founder and economist Klaus Schwab on a mission to improve the world through dialogue. The second one, Blue, gives the voice to passionate advocates for ocean preservation, and to defenders of marine habitats, combating marine pollution, and fighting for the protection of marine species. 

In this regard, Busan, which has become well known in the marine tourism sectors, wants to raise awareness on marine pollution. The Green Cinema project is likely to open the way for sharing and reflecting on the importance of ‘sustainability’ with citizens and the meetings industry together.

Keep Us Warm

Floating plastic debris, the most abundant items of marine litter, is threatening marine habitats and species with increasing plastic wastes, most of which is non-biodegradable. However, what if we can make a muffler from this particular plastic? This is what the ‘GREEN MICE GREEN BUSAN’ campaign promotes, with the manufacturing of ‘green mufflers’ as souvenirs. 

Wave Union, a fashion brand located in Busan, is in charge of producing the mufflers, and has launched a campaign whose slogan, ‘Make your own waves’, promotes sustainable behaviours in the fashion industry. The muffler the company produces is made out of 100% recycled polyester obtained from discarded plastic bottles. The production process reduces the amount of waste and energy consumption, while cutting off carbon dioxide emissions. 

Citizens & the MICE industry join forces

Online events to raise awareness on how to create an eco-friendly environment that benefits both business events and citizens will also be organized. The event ‘Vote for your favorite idea’ will promote the activities of companies participating in the eco-friendly campaign idea contest. Meanwhile, another online campaign is planned to encourage sustainable initiatives among MICE businesses and citizens alike. In addition to promoting it in the domestic sphere, the sustainable MICE campaign of Busan will be visible internationally – like this very article in Boardroom shows!

The purpose of Busan’s green campaign is quite straightforward: the city will be reborn as an eco-friendly MICE destination with a strong and future-oriented character. Let’s all join this path, for the people and for the planet.

To learn more on Busan’s sustainable initiatives, visit www.en.greenmicebusan.kr

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