Sus­tain­abil­i­ty

Our audiovisual settings, as well as venue set-up equipment are the result of a long-term partnership with Neumann & Müller. The company has made a clear commitment towards sustainability, and renews their Ecovadis certification with success every year. They install equipment that is as sustainable as possible, such as LED lights and reusable devices.

The Congress Centre Pierre Baudis in Toulouse is committed to a CSR (Corporate social responsibility) approach via their managing company: Toulouse Congrès (ISO 20121 certified). They focus on optimizing energy and waste, evolving towards more responsible catering, and bringing all their stakeholders on board.

They provide Cartoon Forum participants with water fountains (to encourage the use of personal water bottles), and sorting bins (to support waste management and recycling).

They partner with Paprec, leader in recycling solutions.

During Cartoon Forum, our catering services are provided by our local caterer FALCOU (ISO 20121 certified), who works hand in hand with local producers in Toulouse and the Occitanie Region, and favors organic and seasonal products. To use the food waste, we are working with the local association “Les Alchimistes Occiterra” specialised in recycling organic waste to produce compost.

The Marché Victor Hugo is dedicated to local food, all products are locally produced. They pay special attention to sorting with compactors, glasses, plastic bins, etc.
It is very rare to have leftovers at a food market. Sellers prepare their stalls for the evening. Once all the prepared products have been consumed, the restocking is done on demand to avoid any waste.
However, when there is a surplus of production, they contact La Croix Rouge, which is responsible for recovering the products, and to reuse them to feed homeless people, usually on the same night.

Flon Flon works together with Hector le collector to recycle all food waste. All the waste collected is transformed into green energy thanks to methanization. This natural process degrades organic matter in an oxygen-free environment, leading to the production of methane.

The Manoir du Prince uses mainly organic products, limits its usage of plastic (by using glass bottles, for example) and follows the waste sorting rules. They also work with the local association “Les Alchimistes Occiterra” specialised in recycling organic waste to produce compost.

Cartoon purchased furniture that is reused and installed each year for Cartoon Forum and other events such as Cartoon Movie.

In addition, we rely on local furniture suppliers for our social events and for certain areas of the Congress Centre. Our goal is to prioritize as much as possible local and certified suppliers (such as Options, Lign’Expo, and PSB Lounge) as well as eco-friendly furniture.

Options
The “Presta DD” environmental label that Options Paris had obtained will be replaced by another label soon. The rental service offered by Options is part of a CSR approach: rent so as not to buy, rent so as not to throw away, their business is at the heart of this commitment. Their activity generates relatively little waste but it is recycled when possible.

• Cartoon has chosen to offer tote bags from L’Atelier du Tote Bag that are 100% made in organic cotton, Oeko-Tex certified and printed in France (More information).
• The lanyards used to hold participants’ name tags are made by EtaBeta which have put in place an initiative to replant trees, called Tree by Tree. They are partnering with Just Diggit to plant trees in Africa.
• During the pitching sessions, if people need a headset to listen to the translation, we asked them to use their own headset. Disposable ones will only be distributed if they don’t have personal headset at hand.
• The t-shirts Cartoon gives to the Toonies are 100% made of organic cotton, OCS100 certified and OCS Blended and PETA Approved Vegan (More information).
• Cartoon asks all partners to follow the green effort, such as:
  - Reduction of goodies given on site (notebooks, pens, paper maps…)
  - For the remaining goodies, an effort is put on sustainability (organic cotton tote bags, water bottles…)
  The final decision remains the partners’ choice.

We always prioritize hotels close to the venue to encourage participants to walk instead of using transports. All the hotels we work with are in some measure engaged with sustainable practices as selective sorting of trash, recycling, water control system, selection of local and organic products for breakfast, use of led lamps and sensors to reduce energy consumption.

More information about our hotels’ commitments:
- Accor Group (commitment statement for all hotels from the Accor Group)
- Hôtel Albert has obtained the European Ecolabel
- Hotel de France
- The Social Hub
- Mama Shelter

• The Congress Centre as well as the Marché Victor Hugo (venue for our Welcome Dinner) are easily accessible via public transport or by foot, depending where you come from.
• For events outside the city, we rely on buses to transport all participants, minimizing the environmental impact. These buses are part of the CO2 Objectives programme.
• Whenever possible we give priority to train travel instead of plane.
• To reach the Congress Centre from the airport, or to go back to the airport, the public shuttles are easily accessible.
• Cartoon organises shuttles from and to the airport for some people. The transport company uses low-emissions vehicles.
• We are currently gathering data on participants’ transport to evaluate the carbon footprint of our event.

The Catch-up sessions are 100% online on our digital platform. They allow mostly non-European buyers who cannot attend the event due to travel ban or restrictions to participate online and therefore to contribute to lower CO2 emissions.

Since 2012 Cartoon is no longer printing the Cartoon Forum guidebook. Instead, it is sent digitally 10 days before the event to the participants in order to get prepared. This results in the reduction of our carbon footprint.

In 2024, we plan to integrate the Guidebook within Cartoon mobile app and website.

Cartoon's mobile app provides all the important information about our events. Travel vouchers and feedback forms can only be found in the app, together with practical info such as location of the social events, shuttle departures which considerably reduces the amount of paper printed.

A chat system allows also our participants to communicate directly with each other.

Cartoon Forum’s Selection Committee always pays particular attention to projects promoting sustainability, inclusion, and diversity.

• We use as less paper as possible during Cartoon Forum. We no longer print the attendance lists or “Good-night” letters.
• We offer the possibility to our media partners to send us a QR code for the participants to get access to the online version of the magazines. For those who want a printed version, they can pick it up on the rack at the Welcome Desk (limited stock).
• Only one printer: The printers at the entrance to each room have been removed to further reduce paper waste. We only have one printer at the Internet Café, if one page needs to be urgently printed (not multiple pages or a booklet). We ask of the participants to be prepared to send all documents digitally.

• The company Picto provides us with all prints related to signage. Picto is an Ecovadis-certified company since 2018, their certification is renewed each year. They work on different topics, such as: the environment, fair working conditions, ethics, responsible purchasing and rigorous monitoring of their energy consumption.
  They commit to only use paper or cardboard from well-managed FSC®-certified forests, recycled or from other controlled sources (FSC certification).
  They’re part of the label “Imprim’Vert” to reduce the impact of printing on the planet, by making strategic, ecological and made in France choices.
  More information about Picto’s commitments
  
• Reuse of roll-ups and banners: Cartoon pays special attention to design roll-ups that can be used for several events in a row. They are stored and re-used as long as possible. This year, we did not print any new roll-up, but we are using a digital roll-up (LED-screen).

Cartoon uses its own laptops both at the office and on events, to ensure computers are no longer rented to reduce CO2 emissions from road traffic.

• For the emails
  Infomaniak is a Swiss email provider with a strong proactive approach to sustainability. They measure and improve since 2007.
  
• For the files
  We use Dropbox to store and share our documents related to Cartoon Forum, and avoid printing them. Dropbox has released in 2021 an ESG report stating their approach to sustainability, and committing to achieve carbon neutrality and the use of 100% renewable energy by 2030.

All contracts that we send to our partners or that they send to us are signed digitally.

Most of our meetings with our partners are held by video conference. This system allows us to reduce CO2 emissions by travelling less, and at the same time we have more intensive and regular exchanges with our partners - thus strengthening communication.