Greening the Conference

This year CRRA has taken great strides along with many partners to make the conference a Zero Waste Event. Here is a sample of the greening activities.

Room-Share & Ride Share

Interested in sharing a room at the conference?  Planning to drive and have a spare seat, or maybe looking to catch a ride with someone else?  Use the "free" CRRA Room and Ride-Share posting board to offer or look for ways to coordinate with others.

Post a room/ride available or needed
View current postings

The Hyatt Goes Green!

Thanks in part to the upcoming CRRA conference, the Hyatt has applied to become a green business. They are making efforts to reduce energy and water use, prevent pollution and minimize solid waste. Some initiatives that are currently being rolled out include placing recycling bins in all guestrooms, initiating food scrap composting for kitchen waste, and replacing all toilets in the facility with water saving High Efficiency Toilets. During the conference, guests can also recycle paper and organics at bins located throughout the hotel and in meeting rooms. The Hyatt will also be reducing waste at mealtime through various activities which include using reusable dishware, glassware, and silverware and providing cloth rather than paper napkins.

Thanks to the San Francisco Conservation Corps, who will placeand service additional recycling bins for paper, cans/bottles and organics during the conference.

Special thanks to the South Bayside Waste Management Authority for providing the recycling bins.Cardboard can also be flattened and placed next to these recycling bins for collection. In order to make recycling a success, please properly dispose your recyclables in the designated recycling bins.

Special thanks to Allied Waste for processing all organics.

Carbon Emision Offset Option
Conference registration includes a fee to offset attendees portion of the carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions being generated from travel to/from the conference and the electricity used for conference activities. Registrants also have the option to donate additional funds to purchase carbon credits.

Closing the Loop We've made sure to close the recycling loop by purchasing recycled-content products - from our conference publications to the conference giveaways, plaques and awards.

Reducing our Printed Materials
CRRA has continued to work to reduce the use of printed materials. This year's conference has been actively promoted through electronic media. CRRA has reduced its printed media by approximately 87% or 240,000 pages by eliminating paper registration brochures and saving almost 3 trees in the process. CRRA continues to process registrations completely on-line, nearly eliminating all need to use paper for management and tracking. Surveys for sessions and speakers are also all available on-line at computers located at the registration/information desk or in the privacy of your own office following the conference.

Encouraging Eco-travel Options
We've tried to keep car usage to a minimum by choosing walkable conference activities/locations such as the Welcome Reception at the Fandorin Restaurant located across the street from the hotel and the onsite Awards Reception. We've also promoted traveling together, taking public transportation, hybrid car rentals and bike transit.

IT'S COOL TO RECYCLE
Be sure to check the exhibit hall for our conference thermometer. See the temperature change as our conference recycles!

Together we can make a difference.