GreenBiz strives to mitigate its environmental impact. This year, we’ve set a challenge of diverting 100% of the waste generated by the conference. Please help us achieve this goal by refraining from bringing single-use products into the conference center. We also encourage you to bring your own water bottle and coffee mug to help reduce waste! 

At GreenBiz 19, we diverted 99.5% of our waste from landfill, composting 78.6%, recycling 14.2% and donating 6.7%. 

Our partnership with TerraCycle will allow us to divert more waste by repurposing non-recyclable and non-compostable material. TerraCycle is a highly-awarded and globally recognized recycling company that develops recycling solutions for difficult-to-recycle waste streams, repurposing the collected materials into affordable, innovative products. Last year at GreenBiz 19, TerraCycle helped us to recycle an additional 3% of our waste, beyond what a traditional recycling facility would be able to handle. This included thin film plastic, disposable coffee cups (brought in from outside the conference walls), candy wrappers, and other miscellaneous items.

We're partnering with Copia to redistribute all of our surplus food to nonprofits in the Phoenix community. Today in America, 40% of the food we produce goes wasted, while 1 in 6 people are food insecure. What this means: hunger in our country is not a scarcity problem, it's a logistics problem. Copia is the first technology-enabled food recovery solution. They've built industry-leading logistics to solve hunger and food waste at scale, and GreenBiz is proud to be part of the solution. At GreenBiz 19 as a result of our partnership with Copia, we recovered 637 pounds of healthy food, provided 354 meals to local nonprofits, saved 155,002 gallons of water, and prevented 2,800 pounds of CO2 emissions.

We'll balance GreenBiz 20's water footprint with the help of Bonneville Environmental Foundation and Change the Course, restoring approximately 820,000 gallons of freshwater to critically depleted ecosystems across Arizona. The Change the Course campaign is a national water initiative founded by BEF, National Geographic, and Participant Media. The initiative engages the public and the business community in reducing water footprints and returning water to nature. For every personal pledge to conserve, Change the Course returns 1,000 gallons to rivers and wetlands in need. Change the Course partners with on-the-ground conservation groups to fund innovative restoration projects that restore water and enhance water security.

We'll offset GreenBiz 20's carbon impact with the help of Natural Capital Partners. Attendee travel, energy consumption, waste emissions and other carbon impacts associated with GreenBiz 20 will be offset in verified carbon reduction projects, reducing the emissions to net zero and making the event CarbonNeutral® certified – in fact we’re covering 110% of the footprint to be sure we’ve covered everything.

With these carbon offsets, we will be delivering essential finance to the following projects: Water Filtration and Improved Cookstoves, Guatemala; Darkwoods Forest Conservation, Canada; Improved Water Infrastructure, Sub-Saharan Africa; Mangrove Restoration, Kenya; and Improved Cookstoves, Bangladesh. 

We are teaming up with One Tree Planted by planting three trees for every conference attendee! These trees will be contributed to their reforestation project in Rwanda. This will help reduce the carbon footprint of Greenbiz and have many positive social and environmental impacts in the region. The primary objectives of this project are agroforestry and food security, but reforestation efforts will also reduce soil erosion, landslides and severe floods downstream, as well as sequestering carbon and improving biodiversity. Reforestation allows agricultural systems to increase productivity, provides jobs, increases forest cover and  reduces poverty among Rwandan citizens. This project is primarily organized by a women's-led cooperative, ensuring that women and local farmers have a say in the organization, distribution, impact, and equity of the overall project. 

We strive to use sustainable materials in all aspects of our conference production. Our partner Aosa provides beautiful, durable, recycled and recyclable signage, designed to look great and stay out of the landfill.

We create our banners and backdrops from fabric made of 100% recycled PET printed with no VOC water-based inks. Signage boards are 100% recyclable and made from 30% PCW, and wooden boards are made from FSC certified Baltic birch. Metal signs are 100% recyclable and made from 100% domestic metal. Lastly, our backdrop for the event is 100% digital in an effort to use fewer materials. 

We work closely with the JW Marriott Scottsdale Camelback Inn throughout our event planning process to make sure GreenBiz is produced as sustainably as possible, from menu selection to our zero waste program. We carefully choose our menu items together, along with Waste Management, to minimize packaging and waste. The JW kitchen also plays a key role in implementing our zero waste practices, training and educating staff to properly dispose of waste. We’ve chosen a beef-free menu this year to reduce our environmental impact, and JW chefs partner with local artisans, organic farmers, and sustainable fisheries to deliver food aligned with our focus on sustainability and wellness.

By using the GreenBiz 20 conference app, you are helping to reduce paper use at the conference. See instructions on downloading the app here.