Do your homework. That is my recommendation before purchasing, leasing or renting a food waste decomposition machine. I just posted an article on the machines after chatting with representatives of seven system suppliers. Several other vendors are also mentioned in my article.I first wrote about food waste decomposition machines five years ago. Since then a number of new suppliers have entered the market, some have disappeared, while several others have done quite well. There is no doubt the systems have become a highly effective and accepted way of either reducing huge volumes of food waste down to grey water...

The 98th annual International Hotel, Motel + Restaurant Show (IHMRS) and the fourth annual Boutique Design New York (BDNY) were held this past week at the Jacob K. Javits Center in New York City. I was happy to be part of an effort that resulted in a new Hospitality Green section of the IHMRS trade show floor, as well as five green panel discussions in the Hospitality Green area. A big thank you to ST Media Group International, manager of the show, for involving Green Lodging News, and to the Hospitality Association of New York City’s Sustainable Hospitality Committee...

Be skeptical of claims regarding a product’s ability to biodegrade quickly in a landfill. (Amenity bottles, other amenity containers, and water bottles come to mind.) That is the takeaway from the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) recent six enforcement actions against companies making false claims regarding biodegradability and recyclability.In one case, ECM Biofilms and two of its customers—shopping bag maker American Plastic Manufacturing and golf tee maker CHAMP—were caught making false claims regarding biodegradability of plastic products. ECM markets additives under the trade name MasterBatch Pellets. These are supposed to make plastic products biodegradable. ECM allegedly claimed, for example, that...

A soap dispenser, faucet, sink and hand dryer—all in one unit. A water based towel that has been proven to be twice as effective as hand sanitizers in removing viruses from hands. Electric vehicle charging stations. An electric powered passenger van. Food waste decomposition machines. Food packaging made from 100 percent biodegradable and compostable material. A mattress company with its own mattress take-back program.These are just a few samples of products and programs from a long list of what I consider to be green suppliers that will be exhibiting at the International Hotel, Motel + Restaurant Show (IHMRS). The...

In the coming week I will be chatting with a representative of the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) regarding LEED v4, the new version of LEED that will be introduced at Greenbuild in Philadelphia beginning November 20. Be sure to watch for the article. LEED v4, which came together after USGBC received more than 21,500 comments, is set to include LEED Hospitality-New Construction, LEED Hospitality-Existing Buildings, and LEED Hospitality-Commercial Interiors rating systems.It had been a long time since I received an updated list of LEED certified hotel projects but I received such a list this past week. I often...

In my research for my article on bed linens (sheets and pillow cases) this past week it became clear quite quickly that with linens there is much more than meets the eye when it comes to their sustainability story. Of course I expected as much.To clearly understand the complete environmental upside to a sheet you have to examine the entire lifecycle of the product—not just what it is made from, although that is of course important as well.In my article I spoke with folks from Standard Textile, 1888 Mills, Monarch Cypress and Luxurious Organics. For one reason or another,...

When you hear the word “wellness,” what comes to mind? According to a recent study, “The Global Wellness Tourism Economy,” wellness is a “state of complete physical, mental and social well-being.” If you are not familiar with wellness travel, you should be. According to the aforementioned study conducted by SRI International in agreement with the Global Spa & Wellness Summit, wellness tourism is a near half-trillion dollar market, representing 14 percent of total global tourism revenues ($3.2 trillion) overall. The category is projected to grow on average 9.9 percent annually over the next five years, nearly twice the rate...

It was one of those events where you wish you could have had a seat at every concurrent session. What I am referring to is last week’s Lodging Green + Sustainability Expo at the Omni Dallas Hotel. The speaker lineup at each session was just that strong. Kudos to the folks at Lodging Magazine and EcoGreenHotel for putting on such a successful first-time event. If you missed the conference, be sure to read my article about it. The LEED Gold certified Omni Dallas Hotel was the ideal location for the conference and expo. I had an opportunity to tour...

I will be attending the Lodging Green + Sustainability Conference in Dallas from October 1 to 3. Be sure to watch for coverage on the Green Lodging News website. The first-year event will be held at the LEED Gold Omni Dallas Hotel and will kick off with a tour of the property that includes green features ranging from a 25,000-gallon rainwater cistern to a keycard-based guestroom energy management system. The conference will feature Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. as the keynote speaker and two full days of educational sessions, trade show exhibits and networking opportunities.If you are going to be...

A Vitamin C infused shower? Alarm clocks that waken you gradually instead of sending your heart racing? Wall surface enclosures that cover equipment with elevated electromagnetic fields (EMF) emissions? These are just a few of the features found in the MGM Grand Hotel & Casino’s Stay Well Rooms—rooms that guests are paying $30 more a night to stay in. In case you missed it, Las Vegas’ MGM Grand Hotel & Casino and Delos, a real estate developer, announced this past week that the MGM Grand will be quadrupling its Stay Well room count from 42 to 171 rooms and...