Sustainability Practices

Each year, the ACS hosts two of the most respected and influential meetings within the scientific community, bringing together more than 20,000 chemistry professionals and students from across the globe. While these annual meetings play a vital room in advancing the chemical industry each year, we also realize that these meetings have real impacts on our planet and communities that must be mitigated.

ACS Wins 2011 Green Leader Award

The Capital Chapter of the Professional Convention Management Association (PCMA) recognized ACS national meetings for measurably reducing it environmental impact and contribution towards improving the meetings industry and its communities.

Sustainability Reporting

For our 2011 Annual Meetings, the ACS published its first Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) Sustainability Report - the most widely used sustainability reporting framework in the world. The report uses the newly released GRI Event Organizers Sector Supplement.

Sustainability Practices

• Hotels. For 2012, we have partnered with Clean the World. The organization collects soap and bottled amenities from ACS hotels and recycles them. The recycled soap will be donated to families in developing countries, helping to save lives by preventing the spread of deadly diseases.
• Reduced Shuttle Footprint. We’ve consolidated hotel pick up routes, use alternative fuel shuttle buses, and offset all shuttle emissions with our shuttle partner, TMS, through the Carbon Fund.
• Sustainable Signage. We reduce printing by using existing digital and directional signage, and using reusable ACS easel boards.
• Zero Waste Awareness. We have designated our Sci-Mix Poster Session a Zero Waste Event. The event is designed to only produce compostable and recyclable waste, which recycling volunteers help attendees to place in the appropriate receptacles to achieve high diversion.
• Reduced Printing. We work to strategically reduce printing and paper use by strategically determining the print quantities of our meeting program. In 2011, we launched the first electronic version of the program.
• Reduced Food Waste. We work with our convention center to donate all usable food and leftover materials for the betterment of the local community.

Help Us Reduce Our Impact

• Walk to meeting events
• If transportation is necessary, use our carbon-neutral hotel shuttle service.
• Recycle & reuse
• Take advantage of your hotel’s linen reuse program, turn off the lights in your hotel room and decline newspaper delivery service if you won’t read the newspaper.
• Offset your flight emissions through Sustainability Travel International or another provider.