Greening the Conference

Conference Green Initiatives

This year’s event will begin to follow APEX Green Meeting Industry Standards to ensure the conference is an example of sustainability in action. This includes:

Travel Offsets
Waste Diversion
Sustainable Catering
        Compostables Focus
Site Selection: City of Denver GreenPrint
Other Sustainability Initiatives

Travel Offsets

AASHE 2010 is an official Carbon Balanced Event, powered by EarthEra. This event will have a reduced carbon footprint through the retirement of renewable energy credits for the facility space, attendee travel and hotel rooms.

Click on the grpahic below to learn more about EarthEra's College Campus Programs!

EarthEra directs 100% of program revenue to the EarthEra Renewable Energy Trust to build new renewable energy facilities in the United States. With EarthEra, 100% of the revenue from the Carbon Balanced Event Program will be used to create new renewable energy projects in the United States.

Waste Diversion

Together with the Colorado Convention Center Sustainability Coordinator and Centerplate Catering, AASHE was able to maintain an 87% diversion rate, and donated over 600 boxed lunches to local charities. Over 11,000 lbs of waste was composted from this 2100 attendee event, due in part to the compostable nature of not only food waste, but materials used for boxed lunches, coffee breaks, and breakfasts.

Attendees brought their own coffee mug, water container, pens and paper, and re-sourced event lanyard so as not to create excess event related material waste.  AASHE worked with Stetson, a General Service Contractor whose business plan focuses on sustainability measures from supply chains to on site material usage for the AASHE EXPO Hall.

Click on the grpahic below to learn more about the Convention Centers Sustainability Program!

Sustainable Catering

Local food was center stage as AASHE worked with Greener DINR for an attendee dine-around, where sustainable food sources were served with style and gourmet flair.

Highlights from the conference menu within the convention center included: breakfast pastries, muffins and bagels from Aspen Baking Company; fair trade and certified organic coffee from local distributor CODA; local honey, Haystack cheese and Colorado-based Celestial Seasonings teas; locally raised chicken and Boulder Chips; and seasonal and locally grown vegetables throughout most meals!  AASHE proudly partnered with MAC GRAY to offer hydration stations throughout the conference and eliminated the use of plastic/disposable bottled water.

Compostable Products Focus

Compostable products were featured through all of the meals where reusable china service was unavailable.  These prodcuts included boxes for lunch, napkins, cutlery, clear containers, and coffee cups.  Bio-Plus® Terra boxes are endorsed by the Green Restaurant Association and is made from 100% recycled paper using 35% or greater post consumer reclaimed paper. Bio-Plus Terra has a PLA natural inner coating that allows the container to be composted in a professional composting facility.  Heat safe EarthChoice Coffee cups and cutlery, and ASTM D 6400 certified compostable clear containers were all used within box lunches.
 

Denver's Green Initiatives

Fast Facts about one of the greenest cities for events!  This includes:

Creating local transportation options such as walking and biking routes, and promoting use of pedi-cab’s, hybrid taxi’s, and local hybrid bus solutions for getting around Denver.  Other highlights included the Eco-Orientaion provided by Bio-Habitats, a Host Committee partner organization, and collaborating with local hotels to increase visibility of their existing sustainability practices.  A1 Organics is the dedicated composting facility for the Colorado Convention Center, learn more about A1 Organics now!

AASHE Sustainability Initiatives

Main greening practices highlighted in the AASHE Conference Program: