AIHA Connect Goes Green

Green Initiatives in Houston

AIHA Connect strives to be an environmentally friendly and responsible conference. Here are some of the green, sustainable, and safety initiatives AIHA continues to implement in Houston:

Digital Advance Program and Final Program with reduced page counts referencing online session descriptions, exhibitor information, and background details. We encourage you to think before you print: save paper, save trees.
Ticketless registration
Digital signage outside meeting rooms and for directions
Badges made from recycled materials, which can also be recycled
Signs made of eco-board
Recycle stations for paper, cans and bottles, and other items
Recycle stations for badges post-Connect
Water refill stations allowing attendees to refill personal water bottles

The George R. Brown Convention Center is an award-winning leader in practicing green initiatives, including:

Earning LEED Silver certification in 2011 and achieved LEED Silver recertification in 2017. Since then, the GRB has achieved LEED Gold certification for 2022 and 2025, this is the second-highest level of certification! The certification requires GRB operations to save energy, minimize water usage, reduce CO2 emissions, recycle waste materials, and maintain high standards for indoor environmental quality and operate the building as efficiently as possible.
The GRB has a longstanding history of donating all leftover food from banquets, conferences, or events to Second Servings in an effort to help the community while in the process reducing food waste. Second Servings is Houston’s only prepared and perishable food rescue organization. Since 2015, they’ve been redirecting unserved and unsold food from retailers, sports venues, distributors, hotels, etc., to the people who really need it at shelters, soup kitchens, low-income housing, and many other charities.
The GRB is pleased to have Magpies & Peacocks as a textile and materials recycle partner. Magpies & Peacocks is the nation’s only 501(c)3 non-profit design house dedicated to the collection and sustainable reuse of post-consumer clothing, scrap textiles and accessories diverted from landfill. They have collected over 145 tons of post-consumer textiles and accessories since 2011. Twenty-five percent (25%) of the donated items are used to supply materials to local schools, colleges, and extracurricular programs. The balance is repaired, reworked, or up-cycled into new collections for sale.
When possible, the GRB donates items to the Houston Food Bank Teachers Aid Program, which provides donated school supplies and office items to teachers who work at low-income schools. With this program, teachers are able to “shop” for what they need for free.
GEB’s catering partner, Levy, utilizes compostable food & beverage containers that turn back into soil in approximately 45 to 90 days, dramatically reducing the waste stream. Levy also reduces food waste by using excess food for employee meals and composting food scraps.

Here's what you can do!

Here are a few tips you can do to go green while attending AIHA Connect 2027:

Consider donating to a carbon offset program of your choice (or your company's) to balance your Connect carbon footprint
Use public transportation or ride share
Go wireless (rather than print)! Carry your mobile device and use our free Wi-Fi to note your "favorites" (sessions, speakers, attendees, and exhibitors) and take notes in the Connect mobile app.
Recycle your paper, plastic, and glass in the receptacles provided throughout the convention center
Bring a reusable water bottle to refill at the touchless water stations throughout the convention center
Create a digital business card to share contact information with attendees, exhibitors, and others