Attendees wanting to quench their thirst with bottled water at the upcoming Outdoor Retailer Summer Market will have to look elsewhere this year. The annual trade show for the outdoor recreation industry, which runs June 18-20 at Colorado Convention Center in Denver, has partnered with Nalgene to eliminate single-use plastic water bottles at the event.

The reusable water bottle manufacturer will provide the first 25,000 attendees with a 32-ounce custom Summer Market Nalgene bottle to use at 170 water refill stations located throughout the event, including in all education zones and lounges, as well as exhibitor booths. The bottles are BPA- and BPS-free, durable, leak-proof, dishwasher safe and made in the U.S. During the show, only boxed water will be made available for sale at one location in the CCC.

“Nalgene has been a great partner for Outdoor Retailer through the years, and they wanted to provide every Summer Market attendee with a bottle to give us all the opportunity to take a step to reduce our plastic footprint,” said Marisa Nicholson, OR vice president and show director.

She continued, “The bottles are perfect for everyone at Summer Market to use and reuse during the show and take with them on their next adventures.”

A division of Emerald Expositions, Outdoor Retailer runs three annual shows in Denver, including Snow Show in January, Summer Market in June and Winter Market in November. Each brings thousands of people to the sustainably minded CCC.

CCC’s food and beverage provider, Centerplate, is enthusiastic about helping the environmentally conscious show reduce its plastics consumption.

“Centerplate is always happy to work with our partner venues to make our operations more eco-friendly, and helping to bring this idea to life and divert single-use plastics from the waste stream with Outdoor Retailer and Nalgene at the Colorado Convention Center is a testament to this,” said Todd Moore, Centerplate general manager at the CCC.

Nalgene is also excited about the new partnership and will be exploring the possibility of partnering with OR on additional shows once they see how this initiative works at Summer Market, according to Nalgene officials.

The company estimates that by drinking 64 ounces of water daily from a reusable water bottle, an attendee can save 1,460 bottles from landfills on a yearly basis. If each attendee were to use their Nalgene twice a day, this partnership could eliminate the use of up to 36.5 million single-use plastic bottles in one year.

“Simple and affordable sustainability is at the core of Nalgene,” said Elissa McGee, general manager of Nalgene Outdoor, which celebrates its 70^thanniversary this year. “We’re proud to be part of Outdoor Retailer’s transformation to a greener, more sustainable show.”

OR will be carrying out additional green initiatives at Summer Market. According to show officials, these include eliminating close to 200,000 square feet of aisle carpet – saving 1,200 gallons of diesel fuel from round-trip shipping and preventing 12 metric tons of carbon from entering the atmosphere – and using rental booth carpet made from up to 50 percent post-industrial fibers that is returned to the manufacturer for reuse or recycling.

In addition, OR will be partnering with Clif Bar on on-site recycling programs for the seventh year in a row as well as taking advantage of the CCC’s myriad sustainability practices.

“Outdoor Retailer is working with Honeycomb Strategies and Freeman to conduct a sustainability audit during Summer Market next week,” Nicholson explained. “The report will establish a baseline of current impact and then identify opportunities for further improvement, covering areas such as energy consumption, waste production and diversion rates, water consumption, carbon emissions, food and beverage procurement, attendee engagement and awareness.”

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