<b>WasteExpo Exhibitors Unhappy with Windy City</b>

Excessive set-up and exhibition fees—some of them under the table—have caused competing companies to come together with one message: Don’t bring WasteExpo back to Chicago’s McCormick Place.

Members of WASTEC (Waste Equipment Technology Association), one of five associations that make up the Environmental Industry Associations, hosts of WasteExpo, held a meeting on the last day of WasteExpo 2001 that yielded a consensus recommendation that McCormick Place be removed from the rotation of host facilities.

 “We just had a discussion, and the majority of the feelings expressed were that Chicago wasn’t a place we wanted to ink in as a permanent stop for WasteExpo,” says Mitch Covington, vice president of national sales for Marathon Equipment Co., Vernon, Ala., and a member of the WasteExpo Advisory Committee.

Covington noted that early April Chicago weather “wasn’t optimum for trade show attendance,” and also alluded to “union issues with McCormick Place. It’s an expensive place to hold a show.”

Regarding exhibiting costs for equipment makers who wished to bring equipment and machinery into the hall, Covington said, “I can say that it appears much more expensive for the drayage at McCormick than at other convention centers. It’s a very expensive place if you have a lot of equipment.”

Covington commended show managers Intertec Exhibitions, Stamford, Conn., for “making a real good effort to make some of these concerns go away,” but added, “it still doesn’t overcome some of the negatives of going to Chicago.”

While Covington would not comment regarding under-the-table cash payouts and gratuity requests made by exhibition hall and loading dock workers, several other exhibitors noted that it was a source of irritation. A representative from one recycling equipment manufacturer noted that he kept a roll of $20 bills on hand during set-up and tear-down to deal with the cash payouts.

“You have to pay [workers] when they come by asking for money. It’s the only way you’ll get anything done,” said another exhibitor.

WasteExpo 2002 will be held in May at the Las Vegas Convention Center, while locations and dates for 2003 and beyond have not been determined.