Sustainability

As a conference, we are not climate neutral. However, we lower our impact on the environment as much as possible, Inspired by the 8 R’s: Recycle - Refuse - Reduce - Reuse - Repair - Regift - Recover - Rethink. We welcome feedback on how to improve. Here are our current initiatives:

Venue

• We favour venues that are easily reachable by public transport. This year's venue, the Elisabeth Hall, is located next to the Train Station of Antwerp.
• The Elisabeth Hall supports 'Animal welfare, education and awareness building'. Every cent that goes to the convention and event center is invested in animal welfare efforts, education, breeding programs, and global conservation projects.
• The Elisabeth Hall is a Green Key Location. (Green Key is the international quality mark for ecological tourism companies that make special efforts for the environment.)
• The Elisabeth Hall is focused on minimising their ecological footprint. They reduce waste to the minimum. Rain is collected to reuse for example to flush toilets. They use sensors to measure and map the use of water. They have an insulating, water-absorbing green roof. They focus on low energy consumption. There is smart, economical lighting in conference corridors. They installed solar panels. They clean with ecological products.
• The Speakers' Hotel, the Radisson Blu Hotel, focuses on sustainability. Read about their efforts.

Catering

• The caterer at Elisabeth Hall is focused on Sustainable Catering.
• The buffet is 100% plant-based. Vegan options are also standard available.
• The caterer works with local & seasonal produce where possible.
• The caterer has a no-food-to-waste charter. They fully use their ingredients, as not to leave any waste. As organisers, we closely estimate our food amount through a careful headcount to minimise waste. We create awareness with our attendees to not throw away food.
• Drinks are offered in porcelain and glassware.
• We serve the food in reusable plates and cutlery.
• We provide bio straws.
• We use recycled napkins.
• There are water-fountains where you can (re-)fill your bottles.

Waste & Recycling

• We try to avoid waste. We measure the waste we produce, so we can improve this yearly.
• During the conference we optimize waste processing and recycling. We provide separate paper bins.
• We reuse leftover swag as marketing materials.
• We donate leftover paper and banners to companies who repurpose them.
• We ask our sponsors to bring recyclable and eco-friendly materials for their booth and for the goodie bags.

Logistics

• As a speaker gift, we invest in trees for a agroforestry project and build further on our growing DDD Europe-forest year by year.
• Our T-shirts are 100% bio cotton. They are produced by StanleyStella. Fashion is one of the least sustainable industries worldwide, but StanleyStella is commited to sustainability and transparency, working towards reduced carbon footprint. More info here
• We don't offer cotton totebags to our participants yearly. We prefer alternating with paperbags.
• We work with suppliers that print without chemical ink.
• We wash and reuse materials such as staff shirts, lanyards, ...
• We order recycled paper: sticky notes, program booklets, ...
• Our banners are made from recycled materials.

Travel

• We're a remote-first company, and use public transport where possible.
• We book travel for our speakers so we can offer more sustainable alternatives (such as trains) instead of flights. For DDD Europe 2024, thanks to the effort of our speakers and staff, 50% is coming in by flight, compared to 75% in DDD Europe 2022. (Usually the flights are booked because of the long distance or intercontinental travel). 25% comes by train and 25% by local transport or car.
• We encourage our participants to come by train if possible. Antwerp has good train connections to Brussels, London, Paris,... We promote this actively on our website and in our communication. The venue is also right next to the trainstation, which will help with the choice for traintravel.
• We inform our participants about carpool-options by suggesting carpool.be and offereing a slack-channel to find ride-shares.
• We carbon offset the flights we book yearly. Below you can find here the Certificate for Offsetting a previous edition's travel, by which we supported efficient cookstoves in Ghana to avoid deforestation.

We know that these are only small steps. We try to be more aware and adapt where we can. If you have any tips for us, please get in touch!

2024

2023