ABA Midyear Meeting Goes Green

Going green is more than just a passing trend—it’s an important part of the ABA’s commitment to the environment and our collective well-being as a planet.

Attendees to the ABA Annual Meeting will be hard pressed to find bottled water—once as ubiquitous at association events as “Hello, My Name Is” stickers, the association is replacing bottles with water stations.

Also, instead of killing trees for paper and to save on ink equipment and shipping, the ABA plans electronic will call for registration, which means that attendee packets, including meeting materials, badges and tickets, will be done on demand as attendees arrive to register.

Recycling is also on the ABA’s green meeting plan. ABA and hotel staff will collect and store any unused printed material for future events and toss unusable materials in the recycling bin. Moreover, the ABA will set up collection boxes for plastic name badge holders for later use.

Reducing waste is another goal. Approximately 30 percent of events serving meals, and oversupplies will be donated to various non-profit food distribution systems, including the Greater Boston Food Bank and the Boston Rescue Mission.

The ABA’s green efforts began months before the meeting. The ABA selected a printing partner that is certified by the Forest Stewardship Council and shares the ABA’s commitment to protecting the environment by using soy-based inks and water-based coatings, recycling plates and paper waste, using alcohol-free chemicals on press and offering recycled paper products.