Sustainability

Taking Steps for a Greener Tomorrow

American Academy of Pediatrics is taking steps in a greener direction to benefit tomorrow’s children.
Join us as we work to reduce our carbon footprint and tread lightly on the earth we all share.

Here are a few ways we are making a difference at the National Conference & Exhibition….

Environmental Sustainability Efforts

  • Use signs onsite that are made of 100% post-consumer products and are biodegradable
  • Recycle exhibitor leftover materials
  • Donate products to the local community
  • Eliminate all onsite printed materials
  • Use freight, shipping and shuttle companies that offset their emission waste
  • Use biodegradable materials at food functions when possible
  • Use fuel-efficient shuttle buses and take measures to limit harmful emissions and waste
  • Provide exhibitors with a paperless service manual

Orange County Convention Center Sustainability:

  • Mixed recycling services in the Center’s concourses, outdoors, and exhibit halls
  • Composting, in partnership with O-Town Compost, can be provided in food-centered areas
  • OCCC to work with event to ensure food or other items are identified that can be diverted from landfills
  • Center-wide LED lightbulb retrofit project
  • Indoor Center-to-Table Gardens with 81 vertical hydroponic towers
  • Monarch Butterfly Conservation Garden featuring a 1,000 square feet of conservative garden space

Orlando Sustainability:

  • Orange County earned the internationally-accredited Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) for Cities and Communities Gold Certification by the U.S. Green Building Council
  • City of Orlando has achieved a LEED for Cities Gold Certification as of January 2020
  • Orlando has begun powering city facilities through onsite solar installations and subscribing over 50 facilities to community solar
  • Orlando created the Good Food Central Florida Food Policy Council to address gaps in the current local food system. Orlando increased food assets, including six farmers markets, 149 grocery stores, and more than 700 community garden plots within the city limits
  • Orlando has adopted a Complete Streets policy and expanded bicycling infrastructure with a total of 250.5 miles of on-street bike lanes and 36.2 off-street bike trails

Shuttle Sustainability:

  • Training for drivers to reduce idling and the use of A/C whenever feasible and practical to decrease fuel consumption
  • Utilizes bus companies that have newer model moto coaches with the most fuel and emission efficient systems
  • Tailpipe retrofit devices to reduce CO2 emissions

Social Sustainability Efforts

Philanthropy
Visit the Friends of Children Fund Booth in the AAP Resource Center
Exhibit Hall – Booth #645

Giving to the AAP Friends of Children fund is your opportunity to Give for Children.

The AAP Is dedicated to the health of all children and the pediatric professionals who care for them, but amazing AAP projects and programs cannot exist without your contributions.

Donations to the AAP support vital Academy efforts meeting the needs of children through programs that address mental health, vaccine confidence, equitable treatment for all, and much more. Your donation means making an important difference in the lives of children.

Donate

How can you help?

  • Turn off lights and television when leaving your hotel room
  • Reuse linens and towels
  • Use public transportation instead of rideshares and taxis
  • Walk whenever possible between meeting venues
  • Use refillable water bottles instead of purchasing bottles of water
  • Recycle in the appropriate bins provided
  • Limit food waste
  • Eat at local, sustainable restaurants when possible
  • Ask for a recycling bag to use in your hotel room