Sustainability

You won’t need to go out of your way to be sustainable at SLAS2026. Learn about the easy ways you can make an individual impact on the show’s sustainability efforts.

• Carbon Impact
  • Carpool or take public transport to/from the airport and to/from your hotel.
  • Take advantage of Boston’s public transportation and walk wherever possible.
  • Offset your travel to/from the conference by donating to Speak to the Trees, Boston.
  • Choose to eat vegetarian or vegan at least one meal per day OR commit to eating meat-free all week.

make a donation

• Energy & Water Conservation
  • Participate in your hotel’s Linen ReUse Program and refuse daily service.
  • Turn off the lights and set the thermostat to 74 degrees when leaving your hotel room
     
• Waste Reduction
  • Bring a refillable water bottle and coffee cup to use throughout the conference.
  • Take only what you need at food functions.
  • Download the SLAS app!

• Carbon Impact
  • Take advantage of Boston’s public transportation and walk wherever possible.
  • Offset your travel to/from the conference by donating to Speak to the Trees, Boston.

Learn more

• Energy Conservation
  • Power down your booth at the end of each show day.
     
• Waste Reduction
  • Request sustainable options from Freeman.
  • Rent carpet and flooring from Freeman: Freeman flooring is reused multiple times before being recycled by the manufacturer.
  • Break down all cardboard boxes and place them in the correct recycling bin.
  • Forgo the gifts and create an experience. If you must bring gifts, ensure they are recyclable or compostable at the end of use.
  • Use only compostable or recyclable service ware or china when serving food and beverages at your booth.
  • Pack in & Pack out! Ship out all booth properties and packing materials and donate extra giveaways.
  • Encourage less printing and provide more information digitally with QR codes regarding booth literature.
  • If you must print, create reusable, non-dated signs that can be used year after year.
  • Avoid foam core signs and request paper-based recyclable material such as Honeycomb signage.

Guide to sustainable exhibiting

Freeman has committed to diminishing its greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 50% by 2030, with a further pledge to achieve net-zero carbon operations by 2050. As a pioneer in the events industry, Freeman is at the forefront of innovation, introducing comprehensive solutions that cover every facet of live events. Freeman has attained ISO 14001 and ISO 20121 certifications to uphold these commitments. We encourage you to explore the diverse elements of Freeman’s innovative approaches across their portfolio of shows.

Guide to sustainable exhibiting Freeman sustainability infographic

In 2016, the Thomas Michael Menino Convention & Exhibition Center was certified LEED Silver by the U.S. Green Building Council. The state-of-the-art Lutron Lighting Systems installed throughout the facility provide sensor-controlled lighting in all meeting rooms, saving 1,300,000 kWh a year. Lighting and HVAC are reduced during show move-in and move-out to improve building efficiency.

Guide to Sustainable Exhibiting

• LEED Certification:  In 2016, the Thomas Michael Menino Convention & Exhibition Center was certified LEED Silver by the U.S. Green Building Council. LEED, which stands for “Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design”, is an internationally adopted “green building” rating system that evaluates a building’s environmental footprint in terms of its resource consumption, waste management practices, and overall operational efficiency. 
   
• Energy Efficiency: The state-of-the-art Lutron Lighting Systems installed throughout the facility provide sensor-controlled lighting in all meeting rooms, saving 1,300,000 kWh a year. Lighting and HVAC are reduced during show move-in and move-out to improve building efficiency. 
   
• Local Sources & Composting: MCEC food and beverage partners, Levy Restaurants, are committed to sourcing local food and beverage (depending on the season, up to 75% of their ingredients come from local farms and producers) and composting food waste. 
   
• Recycling: The MCEC and the Hynes recycle over?800 combined tons?of material, including cardboard, plastic, paper, glass, and food waste, with an average waste diversion rate of?47%?at the MCEC. 
   
• Conventions C.A.R.E.?: MCEC Conventions C.A.R.E. (Community Assistance by Responsible Events) program collects clean, usable, nonperishable donations from exhibitors and event planners after conventions, and delivers them to local nonprofits around Boston. In a single year, the program collects and distributes approximately 40 tons of donated goods.  

Please reference your Exhibitor Portal later this fall for donation processes.  

MCEC Green Building Practices

• Accessibility: Our team is working to create an accessible environment by considering aisle space in the meeting rooms and including a registration counter at an ADA-compliant height. Additionally, the exhibit hall floor will not have carpet.
   
• Auditory: Closed captioning services will be available in all scientific podium and general session rooms. Instructions on accessing and utilizing the closed captioning services will be provided on-site.
   
• Special Meals: We are working with the catering team to accommodate dietary restrictions as submitted via the registration page. All food items with common allergies will be listed. For guests requiring additional dietary accommodations, emails will be sent out prior to the conference to confirm the location and availability of specialty meals for each meal function included at SLAS2026.
   
• Quiet Room: SLAS is providing a quiet room for attendees to use at their discretion, should they need to. Attendees can locate the quiet room via the SLAS2026 mobile app.

Accessible Presentations

To ensure presentations at SLAS are accessible to the attendees, SLAS recommends speakers consider the checklist below when creating their presentations:

• Use a sans serif font (e.g., Ariel, Helvetica, Calibri)
• Minimum font size 28 point
• Limit the amount of text on each slide
• Avoid blinking or flashing lights, images, or graphics
• Use a color contrast checker when using color combinations other than black and white (e.g., https://webaim.org/resources/contrastchecker/)
• Avoid these color combinations for text/background and within figures:
  • Green and red
  • Green and brown
  • Blue and purple
  • Green and blue
  • Light Green and yellow
  • Blue and grey
  • Green and grey
  • Green and black
• Do not use color alone to distinguish different data sets; use a combination of different colors and different symbols