Pittsburgh’s DoubleTree Hotel Promises a Green Children’s Institute

The DoubleTree by Hilton Pittsburgh-Green Tree, site of the seventh annual Children’s Institute (Ci7) in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, will be taking measures to make the upcoming affair as green, sustainable, and eco-conscious as possible.

The hotel recently assured ABA staff that the venue will maintain a commitment to recycling and sustainable practices for the duration of Children’s Institute. The DoubleTree will work collaboratively with the association during the event to ensure that sustainable priorities are met and will support the commitment internally by engaging and educating all hotel departments about best practices.

The hotel site will implement the following procedures and practices at this year’s Children’s Institute, taking place June 26-28, 2019:

Operations/Engineering

• Provide a recycling program (recycling paper, plastic, glass, aluminum cans, cardboard, and grease) for entire hotel including sleeping rooms and meeting space.
• Provide clearly marked recycling containers in common areas, including lobby and hotel guest rooms, unless hotel sorts and recycles, in which case this practice must be communicated to guests.
• Use energy-efficient lighting.
• Use water-conserving fixtures and have a program for spotting and repairing leaks.

Housekeeping

• Instruct hotel housekeeping staff to shut blinds, turn down the heat/air conditioning, and turn off lights, television, and radio during the day in rooms while attendees are gone, or rooms are equipped with occupancy sensors.
• Implement a towel and sheet re-use program.
• Instruct the hotel housekeeping staff not to replace consumable amenities daily unless they are gone. Use of soap and shampoo dispensers would be optimal. The hotel will participate in an amenity donation program if available locally.

Catering

• Use glass or china (non-disposable) catering plates, cups, and glasses.
• No polystyrene (#6 plastic) used under any circumstances, including guest room to-go cups and take-away containers.
• Serve condiments in bulk containers, not individual servings, eliminating wasteful packaging. This includes sugar, creamer, butter, cream cheese, etc. (exception: serve sugar substitutes in individual servings).
• Use cloth napkins, whenever possible. Use reusable coasters instead of cocktail napkins. If paper napkins are required, then they must be made of post-consumer recycled paper (minimum 30 percent).
• Donate all leftover food to a local food bank.
• Donate all table scraps to a local farm or compost if program is available or made available by the client.
• If food and beverage events are not booked in hotel, hotel is to offer locally grown, organic option in food and beverage outlets.

Purchasing

• Use safe, environmentally responsible cleaning products that do not introduce toxins into the air or water (i.e. bearing a third-party ecolabel).
• Use fair trade, shade-grown coffee at any conference functions.
• Use predominantly local, organic produce/products in any food and beverage events contracted as a part of the conference.
• Purchase bathroom tissue, hand towels, and facial tissue with a minimum 20 percent, 40 percent, and 10 percent post-consumer recycled content, respectively.
• Purchase renewable energy in alignment with current prevailing jurisdictional (state/provincial) goals.

For other questions about the DoubleTree Hotel’s commitment to keeping Children’s Institute green, booksellers can e-mail ABA Meetings and Planning Officer Jill Perlstein.