BLOOMINGTON, IND.—DestinationGreen, the free monthly e-newsletter of The Ashkin Group distributed to nearly 4,000 subscribers every month, has been totally redesigned. In addition to the redesign, the seven-year-old publication now also has its own website containing current as well as past e-newsletter content specifically addressing green cleaning and sustainability issues.  The whole idea behind the new design is not to just update the look, but to strengthen the company’s mission and goals for the industry, according to Elizabeth Crosbie, marketing manager for The Ashkin Group.   “Due to our direct involvement on both the national and international level working with...

AKRON, OHIO—GOJO Industries, Inc. underscored its strong commitment to following sustainable business practices and made public its new GOJO Sustainability Policy. The policy commits to sustainable business practices as they relate to social, environmental and economic well-being. GOJO has a long history of sustainable business practices in the skin-care industry. In 1952, founders Goldie and Jerry Lippman invented the world’s first portion-control hand-cleaner dispenser to reduce waste. In 1983, GOJO developed liquid soap dispensing systems using GOJO SANITARY SEALED refills, a more hygienic alternative to bar soap or bulk dispensers. More recently, the company created GOJO GREEN HYGIENE Solutions, the...

ESCRIBANO BAY, PANAMA—Set to premier July 2011, Panama’s Coral Lodge eco-resort will offer families spacious over-the-water bungalows set in a pristine natural setting with coral reefs, golden beaches, a tropical rainforest, and the fascinating Kuna culture. The newest member of the Desires Hotels International collection of independently created boutique hotels, Coral Lodge’s thatch-roof bungalows will have 650 square feet of living space featuring local art. Coral Lodge will make every effort to preserve and protect its host environment, while working with local people to prove that luxury and conservation are not mutually exclusive. Considered a model for eco-development in the...

SAN DIEGO—HD Supply Facilities Maintenance, a leading distributor of maintenance, repair and operating (MRO) products, announced the release of its 2011 full-line Catalog Volume 61 featuring more than 22,000 in-stock products and value-added services—available with free, next-day delivery. “Customers have evolving needs and expectations,” said Anesa Chaibi, president and CEO of HD Supply Facilities Maintenance. “With our broad product and service offering, they can rely on us to deliver the right solution every time. We continually monitor and analyze customer feedback to identify the key areas that matter most. This enables us to meet and exceed those expectations.” The 1,800-page catalog...

CLEVELAND, OHIO—Hasek Communications, the Cleveland, Ohio-based publisher of Green Lodging News, welcomes Tornado Industries as a Green Product & Service Directory partner. Tornado is a leading manufacturer of commercial cleaning equipment. Tornado offers unique cleaning applications including the DE 4002 Steamer for chemical-free bed bug eradication, CRI certified upright vacuums, low-moisture cylindrical brush floor machines and automatic scrubbers, sweepers, wet dry vacuums, industrial vacuums, burnishers, and much more. Tornado currently has a white paper available entitled, “Effective Treatment of Bed Bug Infestations.” The paper is written by Michael Schaffer, the company’s president. For more information, e-mail jkennedy@tornadovac.com, call (800) 822-8867,...

EAST LONGMEADOW, MASS.—XLERATOR high-speed, energy-efficient hand dryers are now available with ADA compliant stainless steel paper towel dispenser retrofit kits. The new kits provide a simple, cost-effective solution for replacing built-in paper towel dispensers with XLERATOR hand dryers. A stainless steel panel allows the dryers to mount where dispensers existed. XLERATOR completely dries hands in 10 to 15 seconds—three times faster than conventional dryers. It uses 80 percent less energy and delivers a 95 percent cost savings versus paper towels, while creating a more hygienic restroom. “XLERATOR hand dryers and retrofit kits are being specified by facility managers who are...

CLEVELAND, OHIO—Low Cost Janitorial Supplies has launched a new section on its website exclusively devoted to 700 green products and supplies. All products are identified with an Enviro-conscious logo, meaning they do not contain hazardous solvents, utilize recycled materials, incorporate recyclable components, or otherwise reduce the impact on the environment. As the company offers more than 4,000 products, finding the environmentally-conscious options could take extra time. According to company president Scott Hays, “We wanted to make it easy for customers to find green products without hunting through dozens of other items.” The company’s green products meet various third-party environmental standards, such...

NIANTIC, CONN.—When the Bardessono Hotel in Yountville, Calif., deployed the Room Expeditor (REX) tool from MTech in March 2009, it became the first property in the world to equip its room attendants with an iPod Touch to instruct them on which is the next most important “vacant” room to clean, based on a collection of variables. Today, the 62-room luxury property, managed by MTM Luxury Lodging, is first once again to benefit from streamlined technology integration between MTech’s REX and INNCOM’s Integrated Room Automaton System (IRAS) that now alerts staff when stay-over rooms also are ready to be refreshed. “Being...

When it comes to many of the more general cleaning tasks that hotel housekeepers perform every day, transferring to a green cleaning system may be as easy as simply selecting environmentally preferable cleaning products. While housekeepers may also need to be trained on how to use the green products, for the most part using many green cleaning chemicals is not that much different from using conventional products…it’s just that the green ones are healthier. However, that is not necessarily true when it comes to floor care. Although great strides have been made in developing green floor care chemicals such as...

CINCINNATI—Procter & Gamble Professional, a division of Procter & Gamble, announced the launch of the P&G ProLine Floor Care System, a product lineup of floor care solutions formulated to work together. The P&G ProLine Floor Care System features a low-odor floor finish stripper, seven new floor finishes and neutral-impact cleaners. P&G Professional’s latest innovation also features EPA Designed for the Environment (DfE)-certified floor finish and cleaner, which exceed Green Seal’s GS-40 standards for industrial and institutional use. “Finished floors and floor care maintenance are a major investment for many businesses and commercial cleaning contractors,” said Matt Koloseike, North America Marketing,...