MCEC aiming to eliminate single use plastic by 2025 in new university initiative

The Melbourne Convention Centre (MCEC) is partnering with students from the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology on a new sustainable initiative. Together, the venue and the university are aiming to eliminate single-use plastic from MCEC’s events and onsite cafes by 2025. The venue is aiming to give six students real world experience around sustainability as part of the RMIT Activator’s Impact Academy programme. The students are studying degrees in marketing, economics and finance or information systems. MCEC sustainability manager Samantha Ferrier is the project coordinator. Ferrier commented: “It’s a unique opportunity for industry to solve real challenges by collaborating with university students. The students are highly self-motivated and passionate and are taught to apply a design and systems thinking approach. “Our team at MCEC is really excited to see the solutions that the students come up with because eliminating unnecessary single-use plastic is something we’ve been working towards for some time. It’s important that the events industry is doing all we can to prevent waste by redesigning the system.” Julie Stevens, partnerships manager at RMIT Activator, added: “Impact Academy is beneficial for both businesses and students and can make a positive difference to our future workforce. “Students gain valuable experience working with real industry challenges and developing professional skills in a real world setting while completing their university studies. Plus, businesses have direct access to a niche market of students to take on challenges that may provide new opinions/mindsets/skillsets.”