Ways to Include Sustainability Into Your Meeting in Dallas
If sustainability is a priority for your meeting, you’ve come to the right place.
Environmentally conscious purveyors, partners, and venues across Dallas make it easy to ensure that your event is eco-friendly from the moment your guests arrive at DFW Airport — the largest carbon-neutral airport in the world to receive a 4+ level in the Airports Council International Carbon Accreditation Program — to long after the last dessert has been served. Whether you’re looking for locally sourced cuisine, hands-on volunteer opportunities, on-site recycling programs, or other ways to limit your event’s carbon footprint, you’ll find it all in Dallas.
Conscientious Cuisine
Serving your guests sustainably sourced cuisine isn’t just delicious — it’s great for the planet. The team at The Market Cafe in Bonton takes farm-to-table very seriously. As a social enterprise operated by Bonton Farms, nearly every ingredient on the menu comes from one of two local farms, and proceeds from the restaurant go towards helping feed those in need. Bonton Farms also offers opportunities for group volunteering and team-building activities that showcase the importance of sustainable agriculture.
Dallas’ own Beatrice is one of just three full-service restaurants in the entire country to be B Corp-Certified, and the City of Dallas even awarded the eatery the coveted Platinum Green Business Certification. At this Louisiana-style cajun eatery, not only does the menu focus on locally sourced, organic ingredients, but kitchen grease is recycled as bio-diesel fuel, and nearly 100% of food waste, cooked scraps, and even oyster shells are composted. The restaurant, which seats 100 people, is even launching a Sustainability in Hospitality class at Dallas College this fall.
Stay Sustainably
Eco-conscious hotels across the city implement innovative ways to eliminate waste everywhere from in-room amenities to back-of-house recycling. As a LEED Silver property, Kimpton Pittman Hotel is a leader in eco-friendly hotel operations. The property uses energy-efficient lighting and executes an extensive recycling and composting program, and the on-site restaurant, Elm & Good, serves farm-to-table cuisine.
Sheraton Dallas Hotel also emphasizes the importance of looking to the future. At least half of the cleaning products used throughout the hotel are Green Seal-certified. For meetings, touches like water coolers instead of bottled, linenless banquet tables, and digital signage all serve to keep unnecessary waste and energy usage at a minimum.
Volunteering with a Vision
To create an impactful experience for your guests, the community, and the planet, add volunteering to your agenda. With projects addressing everything from energy-efficient farming to food equity, South Dallas’ Restorative Farms is the perfect place to add meaning to your meeting. Hands-on group volunteer opportunities are offered all year long, whether that means seeding, weeding, harvesting, or anything in between.
Future Farm, a high-tech container garden in South Dallas, uses innovative Growtainer technology to sustainably and efficiently cultivate fruits and vegetables no matter the weather. As a partnership between restaurant Dive Coastal Cuisine and skate park 4DWN, the farm is not just a place to grow food but also a hub for education, cultivation, conservation, and community. Groups can volunteer to assemble boxes of groceries that are given away to families in need every Sunday.
Energy-Efficient Venues
Some of the most exciting venues in Dallas are raising the bar of sustainability. When you host a group at the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center Dallas, your guests will likely notice details like recycling receptacles and compostable utensils. Behind the scenes, the massive venue implements water conservation programs, uses a high-efficiency HVAC system, and offers free recycling collection for exhibitors at all events.
Want to experience sustainability from the ground up? The very shape of the cubic Perot Museum of Nature and Science in the Arts District is more energy efficient than a traditional rectangular building. The venue also incorporates solar water heating systems to limit energy usage and drip irrigation to conserve water. As a LEED-certified building, The George W. Bush Presidential Center was built with eco-friendly and regionally sourced materials, and the majority of construction waste was diverted from landfills. The facility features a whopping 19,000 square feet of solar panels to lower energy usage, and green roofs help reduce overall heating and cooling needs.
Lower Your Carbon Footprint on Foot
Walking tours are an interactive way to experience the city, but as a group activity that doesn’t harm the environment, they’re also a slam dunk for sustainability. To show off the flavors of Dallas cuisine, the team at Food Tours of America can curate an experience that matches the interests and taste buds of your group. If your attendees are into architecture and design, AD EX Dallas coordinates private walking tours of historical and unique landmarks in areas around the city.
Eliminating Waste
Food recovery programs are a thoughtful way to incorporate sustainability into a Dallas event with zero increased cost and nearly no added effort. Planners can easily arrange a pickup of unwanted food with The Stewpot, a local nonprofit that feeds those Dallas residents most in need. The organization has experience working with restaurants and event facilities all over the city, and they’ll coordinate with the F&B team at your venue to make the donation process as seamless as possible. If you have extra swag, edible or not, they’ll take it off your hands and find a partner organization who can put it to great use. Rescuing Leftover Cuisine, a national nonprofit, operates a Dallas branch that will also gladly accept unserved or unopened food.
Donating your extra food really does make a difference. To date, Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center Dallas alone has donated more than 7.6 tons of unconsumed food to local non-profits.
We can’t wait to help you plan your next sustainable meeting in Dallas.
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