Guide for Exhibitor Application

Background - The Living Green Expo, Minnesota’s largest environmental event, provides real solutions for people to live better, healthier lives with less impact on the environment. The two-day event, free to visitors, connects people who are interested in making a positive difference both in their lives and in their communities.

How will the Living Green Expo assess “sustainability”?

Since the purpose of the Living Green Expo is to demonstrate and promote attainable models for healthier, more ecologically sound lifestyles, the information, resources, and products showcased should strive for the “long-term sustain-ability” of the product, service or approach being promoted.

The Expo will also use criteria that, at a minimum, screen for products and approaches that result in lower impacts to the environment than the comparable products or approaches currently in widespread use in society. We believe that having minimal-impact criteria as well as “ideal” criteria encourages step-by-step movement by Expo exhibitors and participants toward the ideal, while giving Expo attendees the awareness and opportunity to move as quickly as they wish toward adopting the most sustainable choices available.

Lower impact criteria

The following descriptions correspond to attributes your product, service or educational approach may or may not have. The exhibitor application asks you to check off which attributes your product has and to provide specifics for all attributes in one short paragraph.

Energy efficient / Renewable energy: A product that uses significantly less energy to accomplish its task relative to a comparable product. Sustainability ultimately requires that energy be generated by products utilizing renewable sources such as solar, wind, small-scale hydro, biomass, or geothermal. Examples: energy-efficient lighting, appliances and vehicles; Smart Growth; telecommuting technologies and practices; electricity produced by photovoltaic panels.

Conserves / Protects water and air: A product that requires less water to operate, or to manufacture, than a comparable product. A product designed to prevent or control pollution of water and/or air. Examples: water-conserving home appliances, and lawn and garden care; permeable pavement and constructed wetlands; no-VOC paints.

Less toxic: A product containing few or no toxic substances relative to a comparable product. Examples: environmentally friendly cleaning products; low/no-VOC paints; mercury-free vehicles; organic lawn and garden products and techniques.

Plant-based: A product derived from renewable resources, including fiber crops; chemical extracts from oilseeds, nuts, fruits and vegetables; agricultural residues; timber; wood wastes generated from processing and manufacturing operations. These products stand in contrast to those made from fossil fuels. Examples: bio-fuels and lubricants; office furniture made from plant waste; non-wood paper products.

Locally / Regionally produced: A product grown/manufactured near the location of its use, relative to the same product produced more distantly. Benefits include both minimizing the energy needs for transporting goods and materials and potentially supporting local suppliers, workers, communities and economies.

Reduces waste: A product sold with less packaging, and a product that creates less waste in its manufacturing, use and end-of-life.  Examples: products sold in bulk; biodegradable packaging; products with rechargeable batteries; compostable products.

Durable / Reusable: A product designed for long life, for a secondary use after its original use, or a product whose components are designed for disassembly, reuse or rebuilding. Examples: canvas shopping bags, salvaged building materials, rebuilt auto parts, electronics which allow for easy disassembly and extended producer responsibility for recycling components.

Recycled content: A product containing materials that have been recovered from the waste stream after consumer use (post-consumer), or a product containing materials diverted from the waste stream of a manufacturer (pre-consumer). Examples: recycled paper, carpet, paint, plastic wood, glue-laminated wood joists.

Organic (but not certified): A product whose growing and other steps in its life cycle are less damaging to the environment than that of similar products. Examples: organic food, organic cotton.

Certified by: A product certified under various national/ international protocols. A product whose manufacture, use and end-of-life are less damaging to the environment than that of similar products. Examples: USDA Organic; Food Alliance;
Green-e; Energy Star; Fair Trade; FSC sustainably harvested wood; LEED building; sustainably harvested fish.

Educational /Promotes environmental values: Educational approaches to sustainable living which can help a person to make changes in their life which can result in environmental benefits as well as education on specific environmental problems and issues.