Environmental Policy

All Things Open strongly encourages team members and partners to embrace the following environmental policy when working at home and / or when onsite at an event and working with partners. We want to do everything possible to encourage sustainable growth good for both the environment and our communities.

1. Use energy-efficient lighting whenever possible

   Includes replacing incandescent light bulbs with either compact fluorescent lighting (CFL) bulbs or light-emitting diode (LED) bulbs.

2. Recycle as much as possible – Includes plastic, paper, and anything else that can reasonably be recycled.

   A special emphasis should be placed on computer equipment and technology when replacing and upgrading.
   Includes recycling paper at every opportunity and purchasing recycled paper/environmentally friendly paper initially. Includes recycling plastics and glass at every opportunity as well.

3. Purchase Energy Star Electronics when possible

   Purchasing equipment identified by the EPA as being energy-efficient is good for everyone. Includes computers, monitors, scanners, printers, network devices, etc.

4. Reduce electricity usage

   Reduce electricity usage whenever possible, by doing things as simple as opening windows and turning off heating and air systems.

5. Bring in green plants whenever possible

   Green plants clean the air around you and help save dollars on air filtration systems, etc.

6. Use recycled products when possible

   Includes everything from paper (previously mentioned) to office furniture and supplies.

General information regarding disposing of E-Waste – the how-to’s from Consumer Reports: https://www.consumerreports.org/recycling/how-to- recycle-electronics

Energy.gov guide to saving energy and money in the home – https://www.energy.gov/energysaver/services/energy-saver- guide-tips- saving-money- and-energy-home

Environmental Friendly Policies Specific to Conferences and User Groups

A significant component of the All Things Open business is hosting conferences and user groups, as a way to promote and enable open source education for the many people that attend each year. As we plan each event we make environmental issues / being a good steward of the environment are taken into consideration, which is reflected in the policy and actions below.

Examples of these considerations include:

1. We recycle / reuse as much registration products as possible. This includes lanyards and unused name tags that we “upcycle” from event to event.
2. We print double-sided signage so that we can reduce the number of signs we need over multi-day period. We use recycled materials if at all possible.
3. Whenever possible, we print nametags and signage without a date so that we can use these items for future events. This cuts down on the total amount of paper and other material used.
4. We always try to make sure we schedule events at facilities with a recycling program, using recycled products for food service (coffee cups, boxed lunches, etc.).
5. We ensure recycle bins are available at our conferences for guests to use (yes, these are part of the facilities that we rent, but we do make them available to our guests).
6. We encourage our guests to bring water bottles and use the water filling stations at our events instead of buying bottled water.
7. We select hotels that are close to our conference (as the “conference hotel” to encourage our out-of- town guests to walk to the conference instead of having to drive in each day.
8. All “swag” left behind by vendors is either reused at a future show or donated to other shows for use there.