What Oracle is Doing

Oracle San Francisco 2013 Fun Facts

• 777 metric tons of waste was diverted from landfill by Oracle and event suppliers through event recycling, composting, and donation programs since 2008.
• 85% of menu ingredients served at major functions are sourced within 250 miles of the bay area, helping support California growers.
• 91% diversion of waste from landfill at last year’s Appreciation Event at Treasure Island.
• 69,355 water bottles eliminated, saving one ton of plastic, by using water refill stations since 2008.
• 97% of all event signage is reused, recycled or repurposed post-event.
• 14,400 lbs of gently used event supplies were given to 17 different local charities in 2012.
• 8,000 square feet of non-recyclable cling signage was eliminated in 2012, enough to over 4.5 volleyball courts.

In 2012 12% of attendees purchased 5,538 metric tons of carbon offsets to be accountable for carbon impacts that can’t be avoided. Adoption increased from 1% in 2011.

Going Green with Oracle Since 2007

• Saved $1.7 million in net costs
• Prevented 61 trucks of trash from entering landfill through recycling, composting, and donation
• Conserved enough water to fill 4.3 Olympic swimming pools
• Reduced energy use sufficient to power 90 homes for a year
• Curbed emissions equivalent to taking 563 cars off the road for a year

Green Initiatives Around the World

• Oracle OpenWorld and JavaOne events in Asia and Latin America have dedicated green initiatives.
• Since June 2012 more than 150 Oracle event planners worldwide have been actively reducing the environmental impact of more than 2,300 of our smaller events.

What You Can Do

Although we’re working hard to make more sustainable choices, it’s your help that will continue to help us improve our success rates.

Consider these ten ways you can reduce your personal conference footprint:

1. Reuse a drink container. Every time you use and reuse your own bottle or cup you help conserve by avoiding disposable containers. Need a reusable container? Stop by and pick one up at the Oracle or JavaOne stores.
2. Get the conference mobile application. In 2007 Oracle used over 100 tons of paper on site—equivalent to the weight of 50 cars—for conference guides, handouts, and the like. Since then we’ve cut back to a mere 19 tons by greatly reducing what gets printed, and making most everything available online. Take advantage of the conference mobile app and help us continue to reduce paper usage at the conferences.
3. Be a green hotel guest. Refusing daily laundry service in your hotel room conserves an estimated 14 gallons of water per washing avoided. So hang up your towels and take a pass on changing your bed linens. And, don’t forget to turn off the lights, air conditioning, and television when you leave your room.
4. Walk, don’t ride. Forty-four percent of Oracle conference hotels are within walking distance of the conferences. By choosing to walk instead of take the bus you’re helping Oracle reduce shuttle miles traveled by 24,000 since 2007, and reducing carbon emissions by 39 metric tons.
5. Use a pedicab if you don’t feel like walking. People-powered pedicabs are a great way to get where you need to be without the carbon footprint of a taxi.
6. Find other low-impact ways to get around San Francisco. Every trip to and from the airport on BART prevents 21 pounds of emissions from spewing into the atmosphere.
7. Sort what’s left of your lunch. Your lunch box is compostable, but your beverage container and snack packages may not be. So bring your lunch box to a recycling station and talk to one of our Green Angels about what gets sorted into which bin.
8. Don’t want to take conference materials like your backpack, notebook, or pen home? Bring them back to the Registration area so we can donate them to a deserving local non-profit organization, RAFT, the Resource Area for Teachers.
9. Offset your carbon footprint. Oracle estimates each event attendee produces approximately 1,900 lbs of carbon emissions, primarily through air travel, but also through hotel stays, venue power consumption, and food and ground transportation. If you were to capture that, it would fill over 78,000 balloons. Oracle has included an option for you to purchase an offset as you go through the registration process. The offset fee supports projects administered through Terra Pass.

While Oracle operates our own business according to environmental best practices, we also use our own sustainability products, achieving significant benefits to our own bottom line. Oracle's greatest positive impact is through the delivery of practical, concrete solutions that help our customers with their own sustainability initiatives.