Charlotte Ei Partner Tours

Ei Ptrs @ Hilex Poly Plant
Ei Chair & Chief FUN Advisor
Scott Seydel on ground

Elemental Impact Partner tours launched in July, 2012 when Heritage Interactive Services and Hilex Poly hosted their fellow partners in Indianapolis for two dynamic days of sharing, strategizing, bonding and FUN. The IMPACT Blog post, Ei Partner Tours Launch in Indy, gives an overview of the inaugural tours while the Ei FB album, July, 2012 Ei Partner Tours in Indy, is the pictorial recap.

An Ei Partner Program benefit, tours are excellent vehicles for partners to explore their tremendous synergies and potential business relationships. Action points are always an outcome as partners bid each other farewell until their next encounter.

A second tour was scheduled in NYC for early November to tag-team with Global Green's CoRR Food Waste Conference. With Hurricane Sandy ravaging the Eastern Seaboard days prior to the tours, the group reduced to those residing in the NYC area or participating at the CoRR conference. Even with fewer folks, the tours were powerful.  

The IMPACT Blog post, NYC Ei Partner Tours, is an overall tour synopsis with details on the EcoLogic Solutions facility tour. The ZWA Blog post, Food Waste: Too Valuable for the Landfill, is a tour recap of Global Enviro's on-site food waste digester NYC installations. For a pictorial recount, see the Ei FB albums, 11-05-12 Global Enviro System Tour and 11-06-12 EcoLogic Solutions Tour.

In early March, Ei Partners converged on Charlotte, NC for the third Ei Partner Tours. Hosted by HMSHost and Simon Property Group, Concord Mills was the destination for DAY 1, filled with presentations and tours. Concord Mills, a Simon mall, is the Sustainable Food Court Shopping Mall Pilot with the food court operated by HMSHost.

The tour tone was set by a professional package designed and printed by CleanRiver Recycling Solutions, a featured tour partner. Ei founder Holly Elmore (me!) baked dessert bundles for each partner. A perfect host, Brian Shetron, Concord Mills HMSHost, kept the group with plenty of excellent food & beverage throughout the day, all done in zero waste style!

During the day presentations alternated with mall tours for first-hand observation of programs in action mode. Overall the tour focus was on food waste collection for composting, wasted food donation and plastic film recycling. CleanRiver and Orwak presented and later demonstrated how their equipment was at the foundation of pilot success.

Linda Dunn with HMSHost gave an overview of their impressive sustainability commitment grounded in sound business principles. Brian and Ray Soporowski, CM GM, presented on the SFCI Pilot action items along with anecdotes from the journey. EcoLogic Solutions and Ellis Fibre | Grease Lock rounded out the sustainability balance with their product & service presentations. 

Ei Ptrs enjoying dinner @ AZN
see Ei FB album for names

Ei is known for augmenting important business with excellent food and wine - the first day ended at AZN Azian Cuizine for a fabulous dinner along with lively, productive, FUN conversation. A perfect way to end DAY 1 and get ready for DAY 2. 

The Ei FB album, 03-04-13 Charlotte Ei Partner Tours - Day One, gives the pictorial recap of the first tour day. Ei Partner PPT presentations are available for download on the Ei Partner Tours website page.

Day 2 tours began at SouthPark Mall, a sister Simon Mall to Concord Mills. Ray and Brian joined the group at SouthPark to validate the support provided by Ei and the SFCI Team. Following the tour, the partners convened in the mall offices for a strategy session. Success: the group left with action points! 

Jim Lanier & Ei Chair Scott Seydel
during SouthPark tour

Next the Ei Partners traveled to Stanley, NC where Earth Farms owner Jim Lanier treated the group to a lovely lunch at Northstar Seafood Restaurant.  At lunch Jim educated enthusiastic partners about Earth Farm's origins and future plans. A fantastic tour of Earth Farm's composting facility followed lunch. The Ei FB album, 03-05-13 Charlotte Ei Partner Tours - Day Two, includes a pictorial recap of the Earth Farms' tour.

The final presentation and tour was at the Charlotte Airport where HMSHost operates the food & beverage outlets. Bob Lucas with the airport gave the partners a formal presentation on the recently opened recycling center. Due to permit status, the group was not allowed to tour the center. With many partners traveling from across the North America, the airport was a convenient last stop on the tours.

It was a busy, productive and fun two days. Stay tuned for the next Ei Partner tour in the planning stages for late summer.