The eagerly anticipated inaugural Travel Retail Sustainability Forum (TRSF) will spotlight today (1 October) at TRMarketplace – travel retail’s first digital networking forum. 

Having originally been scheduled to take place at the Duty Free & Travel Retail Summit of the Americas earlier this year (cancelled due to the coronavirus), the first TRSF in partnership with DFI will run between 15:00 – 16:30 UK time with attendance free to all event registrants. 

TRMarketplace delegates: You can watch a livestream of the Travel Retail Sustainability Forum at 15:00 by clicking here.

Non-TRMarketplace visitors: You can watch a livestream of the Travel Retail Sustainability Forum at 15:00 on TRBusiness.com by clicking here.

Launched last year, the Travel Retail Sustainability Forum (TRSF) and Plastic Pledge in partnership with Duty Free Innovation (DFI) represented a watershed moment for DF&TR.

CHAMPIONING INDUSTRY ACTION

TRSF is the first industry-wide sustainability platform to galvanise more affirmative action to mitigate against the industry’s impacts on the environment, with a particular focus on reducing single-use plastic waste.

Beginning as a vehicle for promoting ideas and knowledge exchange via social media, TRSF has grown into something much larger; a long-overdue green movement committing to achieving real industry change.

The TRSF was sparked by an increase in consumer-led environmental activism and has generated a huge response since it launched in July 2019.

All DF&TR stakeholders have a responsibility to make a difference. Notably, embracing the significant challenge to curb single-use plastic pollution.

According to the Plastic Pollution Coalition, by 2050 the world’s oceans will contain more plastic than fish by weight.

This is something partner DFI is playing a big part to address with an objective to save one billion plastic bottles from landfill by 2025.

For its part, TRBusiness has replaced the magazine’s plastic postage bag with a new 100% oxo-biodegradable sleeve. In addition, the paper originates from responsibly managed and sustainable forests and is FSC certified, which means that anyone can trace where the paper has come from and see that new trees have been planted.

To add to this, TRBusiness announced this week that as of January 2021, it will enter the next phase of a company-wide sustainability programme by only producing digital magazines for all of its non-tradeshow issues.

Forming part of TRMarketplace’s rich Knowledge and Insights programme, the 90-minute TRSF webinar will draw together leading executives to hear how their respective companies are striving to achieve more environmentally conscious retail footprints.

COMPELLING PANELLIST LINEUP

Hosted by TRBusiness, the session will unbox sustainable initiatives – pre- and post-Covid – investments and consumer-facing practices from industry stakeholders; analyse sustainable and purpose-driven shopping behaviours; and discuss strategies aimed at reducing overall carbon footprints.

In addition, the TRSF will feature exclusive insight from TRMarketplace partner m1nd-set, who will present a specially commissioned study focusing on what consumers are saying about their shopping behaviours and attitudes towards sustainability.

Attendees to the webinar will hear from Simon Best, Senior Vice President, Innovation and New Business, DFI; Duncan Craig, Global Project Director, Concourse Display Management; Ambroise Fondeur, Chief Business Officer, Lagardère Travel Retail; Maud Geerbex, Corporate Affairs Director Global Travel Retail, Mars Wrigley ITR; Rachel Hawes, Head of Marketing – Global Travel Retail, Distell; James Prescott, Managing Director, Harding Retail; and Clara Susset, Travel Retail Research Director, m1nd-set.

As reported, TRBusiness announced Budapest Airport as the winner of the Best Green Initiative at an Airport at the consumer-voted 2020 Travel Retail Awards held earlier this week.

For the full list of winners, click here.

For a video replay of the awards, click here.