Sustainability

How Can I Help?

We invite our guests to support this initiative by bringing your own coffee thermos, water bottle and metal straw!

Here are a few other tips to increase sustainability of the conference and work towards a goal of zero-waste. WRRI encourages all conference attendees to consider implementing the following practices:

• Recycle your conference booklet when you are finished using it.
• Return your name tag after the conference for use at future events.
• Take advantage of alternative transportation methods or ride sharing to avoid single car trips. See the link below for more information.
• Use the appropriate bins offered throughout the McKimmon Center for other conference waste (recycling, compost, trash) and ensure things go in the proper receptacles. For help, check out this Recycling Guide from NC State.
• Reuse water and coffee cups, or bring your own mug and water bottle.
• Monitor your personal water usage.
• Turn off unnecessary electronic devices during the event.
• Take advantage of the green space surrounding the venue to move more during the event to increase circulation and burn calories.

Dining Sustainably

WRRI is aware that there are many dietary restrictions and needs among our participants. For every conference, we provide a range of vegetarian, dairy free and gluten free options alongside standard fare that includes meats and grains. We often avoid nut ingredients altogether to avoid potential allergic reactions. All items are labeled with ingredient cards to help participants make informed food choices. Our local caterers are very experienced with ensuring that provided meals meet our participants’ needs and celebrate cultural variety when possible.

Traveling Sustainably

The McKimmon center can be accessed by the NC State Wolfline Bus system and offers space to store a bike for those wishing to use alternative transportation. You can explore many ways to utilize alternative transportation methods while visiting the NC State campus for the WRRI Annual Conference.

Other Efforts

• WRRI promotes the Annual Conference digitally whenever possible to reduce our use of wasted materials.
• We reuse or borrow materials from year-to-year, and buy in bulk to eliminate excess packing waste, to reduce our footprint.
• The program booklets for the Annual Conference are printed with recycled paper or paper that has been FSC-certified for responsible tree harvesting.
• Conference evaluations and thank you notes to exhibitors, speakers and sponsors are sent electronically after the event.