NATIONAL REPORT—Stack all the pillows thrown away by hotels each year and you have got one mighty high mountain of cotton, polyester, down and feathers. Given the volume of pillow waste sent to landfills each year, it certainly makes sense to choose “green” pillow options when possible. What makes a pillow eco-friendly? The materials a pillow is made of certainly matters but so does where it is made, how well it is maintained throughout its life, and what happens to it at the end of its life. Vendors may argue about which materials are the most eco-friendly but the consensus is that it is getting easier to reduce the environmental impact of pillow purchasing—without paying a burdensome premium.
Cotton is certainly one of the most comfortable fabrics available but it is also one of the crops most heavily sprayed with pesticides. Worldwide, conventional cotton farming uses only about 3 percent of the farmland but consumes approximately 25 percent of the pesticides and fertilizers. Going green with pillows means moving away from 100 percent standard cotton ticking. Organic cotton, grown in fields where the use of pesticides have been discontinued for at least three years, is a more favorable alternative and is being used increasingly by pillow makers. Harris Pillow Supply, for example, is currently offering a new ecogreen pillow that includes 100 percent recycled organic cotton ticking.
Manufacturers are not only offering more environmentally favorable alternatives to standard cotton for ticking, but also greener filling options than traditional down, feathers and polyester. Valley Forge Fabrics, which is known for its LIVING FRESH collection of linens that includes Tencel+Plus Lyocell fiber from Eucalyptus, now offers pillow inserts made with the same material—in combination with recycled polyester or standard poly fill. Tencel+Plus is a cellulose that is derived from Eucalyptus by means of an organic solvent. According to Valley Forge Fabrics, the unique fiber hinders the survival of dust mites which results in fewer allergens and contaminates. Eucalyptus trees are fast growing trees and those used by Valley Forge Fabrics are harvested from Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) or Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC) protected forests.
Blend of Different Materials
Ahmet Sapmaz, vice president of product development for Valley Forge Fabrics, says the ticking Valley Forge Fabrics uses around its pillows consists of 65 percent Tencel+Plus and 35 percent recycled polyester.
Ted Lazakis, president of Alpha Tekniko, says his company offers SigmaBoo pillows with a synthetic filling material, up to 50 percent of which includes recycled content. “It’s a little more expensive,” Lazakis says.
Recycled Polyester Cluster Fibers
A-1 Textiles & Hospitality Products is currently offering a Golden Memory Down Alternative Pillow that has a fiberfill that is produced from 100 percent recycled soda bottles. The filling is called Eco-Smart and consists of micro fiber polyester clusters. The aforementioned ecogreen pillow from Harris Pillow Supply also includes 100 percent recycled polyester cluster fiber.
Where a pillow is made certainly impacts its carbon footprint. A “green” pillow shipped from China to a hotel in the United States certainly loses its environmental advantage. The durability of a pillow is also important. The longer a pillow lasts, the longer it stays out of the landfill. Valley Forge Fabrics is one company that will actually take back its pillows at the end of their life for recycling or reuse. The drying time of a pillow should also be considered when weighing its environmental impact. Valley Forge Fabrics compared the drying time of its pillow with a 90 percent duck down, 10 percent duck feather pillow and discovered it dried four times faster and used four times less energy.
While some eco-friendly pillows can cost upwards of more than $100 a piece, those offered by companies such as those listed above are priced comparably to those hoteliers are used to purchasing. During a visit to the recent International Hotel Motel + Restaurant Show in New York City, one vendor’s eco-friendly pillow was selling for just $1 more per pillow than its non-green alternative.
Glenn Hasek can be reached at editor@greenlodgingnews.com.
