HOUSTON—How do you get a laundry facility that covers 27,000 square feet into the basement of a downtown Houston, Texas hotel? It’s easy; you build the hotel on top of the laundry. Most hotel laundries are put in as an afterthought to the construction of the hotel and as such have limited space for equipment. The laundry facility located in the basement of the Hilton Americas-Houston was included in the initial building of the structure and exists as the largest laundry facility in the United States Hilton family of hotels. The massive equipment, including two tunnel washers, was put into...

IRVINE, CALIF.—Food Recycle Science continues its innovations in food waste recycle technologies with the introduction of the new eCorect system—a high-speed food waste recycling machine, through a distribution partnership with Lancaster, Pa.-based Somat Co., a division of Illinois Tool Works (ITW) Company which was recently named a 2008 Energy Star Partner of the Year. The eCorect system is an environmentally-friendly waste dehydrating machine that rapidly reduces/decomposes the weight and volume of food waste, meat scraps, small chicken and fish bones and paper/cardboard and compostables by 85 to 93 percent and transforms them into a high-quality, humus rich organic soil amendment...

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Since issuing GS-33, the Environmental Standard for Lodging Properties, in 1999, Green Seal, Inc. has certified many lodging properties in a number of states. The standard has been revised in minor ways twice, and remains a leadership standard that challenges the lodging industry to operate more sustainably. After reviewing its Green Lodging Program and the progress it has made over the years, Green Seal has decided to propose a provisional revision of GS-33. This revision will primarily enable properties to be certified at three different levels to reflect the range of performance and the difficulty in achieving a high...

Food service can be an accessible entry point for greening your operations that will have a direct impact on your customers, suppliers and community. Start seasoning your food purchasing decisions with sustainable options and watch the green grow on multiple levels beyond just the bottom line as greening your menu can help increase customer loyalty, deepen community ties and help the planet. As energy prices continue to rise and environmental awareness grows, the organic foods segment continues to snowball at about 20 percent annually. According to a recent study released by Organic Alliance, Inc., more people than ever are seeking...

BERKELEY, CALIF.—VASKA, Inc., a Berkeley, Calif.-based manufacturer of botanically-based commercial laundry care products, is pleased to announce it has been awarded the Environmental Protection Agency’s Design for the Environment (DfE) certification for four of VASKA’s laundry care products. This certification allows the business community to identify and choose products that protect the environment and are safer for workers. VASKA submitted its product formulas to the EPA which reviewed the chemical background of each ingredient for its effects not just on the environment, but also on workers’ health and safety. Julia Fry, founder of VASKA, has worked to create a trustworthy...

CHICAGO—Everpure, LLC launched its award-winning filtration system, the Exubera Pro Premium Carafe Water System, during this year’s National Restaurant Association (NRA) Show. The event was held last month at Chicago’s McCormick Place. The new system offers restaurant operators a way to serve their own premium carafe water, and reduce their dependency on serving prepackaged water, which potentially impacts the environment. “Increasing consumer demand for green business operations has prompted many restaurateurs to rethink how they store and serve water, making NRA Show 2008 the best possible time to launch the Exubera Pro Premium Carafe Water System,” says Mark Selander, marketing...

CHICAGO—The National Restaurant Assn. launched “Conserve: Solutions for Sustainability”, an initiative designed to support the United States’ nearly one million restaurant and foodservice locations as they become more eco-friendly, at the Association’s recent Restaurant, Hotel-Motel Show in Chicago. The Conserve website will educate restaurateurs on how taking small steps over time—or bigger steps for those who choose to do so—can make a difference for the future of our planet, as well as be positive for business. “We are launching Conserve to raise awareness and provide resources and information about eco-friendly practices to the entire restaurant and foodservice community,” said...

SAINT CHARLES, MO.—Pineapple Hospitality now offers fully customizable linen and towel reuse cards. Cards are 4 inches by 6 inches, and are printed on 80 percent recycled paper with minimum 40 percent post-consumer content coated stock with vegetable and soy-based inks. Pineapple Hospitality offers multiple categories of stock designs for its custom linen and towel reuse cards. Most colors and fonts can be changed. Layout of images and text also can be changed. The card size can be customized as well. If that’s not enough, Pineapple’s graphic design team can create something new just for a property—be it posters,...

Because the dates for the National Restaurant Association’s (NRA) annual Restaurant, Hotel-Motel Show in Chicago fell right on the heels of the HD 2008 Expo & Conference this year, I was unable to attend. However, there was an announcement made at the restaurant show that you should know about—especially if you operate any kind of food and beverage operation. The NRA announced the launch of “Conserve: Solutions for Sustainability,” an initiative designed to support the United States’ nearly one million restaurant and foodservice locations as they become more eco-friendly. “We are launching Conserve to raise awareness and provide resources...

WISCONSIN DELLS, WISC.—Kalahari Resorts’ longstanding commitment to energy efficient operations continues as it adds the AquaRecycle system, a laundry water recycling and filtration system that will allow Kalahari Resorts to reuse 70 percent of its laundry water. The AquaRecycle system’s chemical-free filtration and treatment recycle process will provide clean, disinfected and pre-heated water to the laundry systems at Kalahari Resort properties in Wisconsin Dells, Wisc., and Sandusky, Ohio, and eventually a third resort in Fredericksburg, Va. Home to a 740-room hotel in Wisconsin and an 884-room hotel in Ohio, Kalahari Resorts estimates the AquaRecycle system, which is expected to be...