EMERYVILLE, CALIF.—SCS Global Services (SCS), a global leader in third-party environmental and sustainability certification services, announced that Welspun Flooring Limited has become the first company to achieve certification under SCS’ new Zero Waste Standard. This new global certification standard enables companies to demonstrate the degree to which their waste streams are prevented, reused, or diverted from the landfill. SCS’ independent certification audit, including on-site inspection, confirmed that Welspun Flooring’s Telangana, India manufacturing facility has achieved 98 percent diversion of waste from landfill through a combination of recycling, waste reclamation, co-processing (including waste-to-energy), composting and storage. The resulting certification captures the...

NATIONAL REPORT—Green Lodging News recently reached out to our industry’s amenities companies, giving them each an opportunity to highlight one of their latest products. Not every company responded but here is a roundup of what each company sent to me—in no particular order and in their words: Kure Kure’s stainless brackets and aluminum cylinders offer a more sustainable, elegant alternative to plastic dispensers. Catering to luxury hoteliers and discerning guests, Kure dispensers stand out for their sophisticated beauty, customized designs, and ease of use. Sleek aluminum and stainless design; no plastic bottles Fully customizable digital printing; Stock designs also available Easy...

NATIONAL REPORT—The concept of sustainability has been around for decades, popularized by the First World Climate Conference in 1979, the inception of the United States Green Building Council (USGBC) in 1993, and the publication of Vice President Al Gore’s book about climate change (An Inconvenient Truth) in 2006. While other building types were early to adopt this concept, hospitality seemed slow to embrace green building design. Today, hospitality design is making noticeable changes to catch up. Impact on the Environment The world’s environment is affected primarily by real estate, transportation, and manufacturing. Due to the influence that these industries have on...

TORONTO—1 Hotels, the mission-driven, sustainable, luxury hospitality brand is now accepting reservations for its soon-to-open retreat located in the heart of Toronto beginning August 4, 2021. This is the first location in Canada for the award-winning, nature-focused hotel brand founded by hospitality visionary Barry Sternlicht, CEO and Chairman of Starwood Capital Group. The iconic King Street West property was acquired and redeveloped as a luxury lifestyle destination by Mohari Hospitality, a real estate investment company founded by the entrepreneurial investor Mark Scheinberg. The design was developed in collaboration with SH Hotels & Resorts, a subsidiary of Starwood Capital Group, and famed architect and designer...

JASPER, IND.—Indiana Furniture has begun taking orders for new additions to the ever-popular and cohesive Canvas Laminate and Gesso Veneer casegoods. The newly added enhancements expand the lines’ design flexibility and amplify functionality within a broad range of working environments to better support personalization and overall productivity. The enhancements include not only a redesign but also an expansion of integrated height adjustable units, allowing their offering of sit-to-stand options to more effectively span across both personal and shared workspaces. And through value engineering, they were able to reduce the pricing of these new options, an added and welcomed benefit for...

LONDON—The United States is leading the way in Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) green buildings, according to new research by Uswitch.com, the comparison and switching service. As the country that set up the LEED initiative, the United States is a natural leader in constructing green buildings, with 124,212 LEED-certified buildings—the most overall in the world. Competition to be the best green building country is tough. China has over 100,000 fewer green buildings than the United States, with 5,678. However, they still come in second place for the most green buildings. In third place is Canada with 3,066 green...

NEW YORK—Nassimi, a leading market innovator in premium faux leather, announced that its new performance fabric, Supreen, has been approved for the Material ConneXion Library—the world’s largest subscription-based materials library of innovative and sustainable materials. “We are honored to have Supreen displayed alongside some of the most cutting-edge materials in the world,” states Iwan Nassimi, Executive Vice President of Nassimi. “Given the trends we’ve seen over the past year, particularly the demand for surfaces simultaneously offering both comfort and disinfecting properties, there couldn’t be a more perfect time to showcase Supreen. We worked for several years to bring different product technologies together to create a...

NATIONAL REPORT—The use of exotic hardwoods for high-end hospitality interiors is well established; the deep, warm radiance of these woods creates a cozy, intimate environment for hotel lobbies, day spas and restaurants. However, over the past few decades the industry has become more aware of the damaging effects unsustainable tropical forest harvests have on our environment and thus the need for sustainable, yet attractive alternatives. As this awareness and knowledge that sustainability in all things is the way forward, architects and hospitality designers have embraced both the beauty and utility of such innovative alternatives as bamboo, cork, rubberwood (Hevea) and...

GOTHENBURG, SWEDEN—In 2017, Scandic and Vasakronan signed an agreement to operate a hotel at the Platinan property in central Gothenburg. Scandic Göteborg Central will open during the second quarter of 2022 just a couple hundred meters from Gothenburg’s central station in the middle of the rapidly-growing Älvstaden area, the largest urban development project in the Nordic region. With its 451 rooms, the hotel will play the largest role in one of Gothenburg’s most spectacular real estate projects. The property will be environmentally certified according to the international LEED system and aims to attain the highest rating, Platinum. This is an important...

SPRINGFIELD, MASS.—MGM Springfield recently hosted U.S. Green Building Council CEO & President Mahesh Ramanujam, Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker, Springfield Mayor Domenic Sarno and other government and community leaders for an Earth Day ceremony celebrating the resort’s multiple certifications under the United States Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) program. MGM Springfield is the first private sector hospitality development to earn LEED Neighborhood Development certification at the site level. This recognition was partly earned due to MGM’s decision to convert a brownfield site hit by a tornado in 2011 and create a human-scale, compact and walkable development with...