Green Living diverted 90% of the waste produced at the magazine’s annual event, The Future of Sustainability in Arizona 2026. Energy was buzzing at a full day of panels on climate, water and clean energy with over 100 attendees at the event. Green Living Magazine partnered with the GreenLight Solutions team to make sure the event’s impact was as close to zero as possible.

On April 23, 2026, the Nina Mason Pulliam Rio Salado Audubon Center in Phoenix hosted Green Living’s fifth annual sustainability conference. Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego opened the event and publisher Dorie Morales welcomed the crowd. Panels covered climate resilience, clean energy and water security. To reduce impact, the Green Team staffed waste stations across the venue, sorted materials and assisted attendees in figuring out where to dispose of waste.

Sustainable Event Operations in Practice

Green Living Magazine is committed to producing events that are sustainable in themselves. The conversations at the Future of Sustainability in Arizona are always about reducing environmental impact. Green Living aims to match the operations to the magazine’s mission, to educate and inspire others to live a more sustainable life. Yet all events themselves generate waste, consume energy and draw people from across the region. 

Through recycling, composting, waste sorting and soft plastics recycling, the greenhouse gas emissions avoided were equivalent to charging 7,760 smartphones or skipping 245 miles of road travel. Nine out of ten pounds of material generated that day stayed out of a landfill. 

How the Green Team Sorted Waste

Waste diversion at this scale requires someone standing at every sorting bin and catching mistakes before they contaminate an entire composting batch. 

Contamination is where most event recycling and composting programs fall apart. One wrong item in a compost bin can render the whole batch unusable. The Green Team’s job was to make sure that didn’t happen and their efforts were successful.

Green Team Lead Amelya Keo coordinated that work throughout the day alongside event partners Denali and Goodmans Furniture.

Explore more upcoming Green Living events at greenlivingmag.com/events.