NEW YORK—Humanscale introduces the Smart Ocean chair, an inventive adaption of the Diffrient Smart chair that incorporates almost 2 lbs. of recycled fishing net material (NetPlus). Sourced from Bureo, an emerging venture developing innovative solutions to prevent ocean plastic pollution, this is the first tangible product of its new partnership and marks the first product available to purchase from the consortium of companies under the NextWave initiative. “Fishing nets comprise approximately 10 percent of the plastic pollution in the ocean today,” says Humanscale Founder and CEO Robert King. “Our partnership with Bureo helps further our goal to achieve a net...

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Startup Soapbox is aiming to change the world while building a viable amenity business at the same time. For every bar of soap purchased a bar is donated to communities in need. The Washington, D.C.-based company has already donated almost 3 million bars of soap. Soapbox manufactures bar soap as well as shampoo, conditioner, hand soap, and body wash. Soapbox was in the news last month when Delta Hotels by Marriott announced a new amenity partnership with the company. The naturally-derived Soapbox products featured in the guestroom amenity kits began rolling out to all 50 properties within the brand’s...

GREENBELT, MD.—Over the last few months, Baywood Hotels has experienced national disasters that affected its hotels in both Texas and Florida. As Baywood ramped to celebrate the opening of its 100th hotel, it was overshadowed by the devastating effects of Hurricane Harvey, Irma and Maria. The focus was turned to lend support to the hotels, employees and local community of distressed areas in their time of need. By partnering with five national organizations, Baywood Hotels contributed $101,000 to various efforts. Baywood Hotels donated $31,000 to hurricane rebuilding efforts by partnering with Habitat for Humanity of Florida that assists those communities...

LOS ANGELES—Los Angeles, the nation’s second-largest city, took a bold step toward reducing climate pollution recently when its City Council adopted an amendment aimed at making steep reductions in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from commercial and residential buildings, including by transitioning from conventional natural gas to electricity generated from pollution-free sources like wind and solar. The council approved a resolution that requires the city’s building department and utility to 1) make specific recommendations to reduce building demand for natural gas, and shift gas use to clean (pollution-free) electricity, and 2) establish aggressive 2028 and 2038 building electrification targets that meet...

STOCKHOLM—The Rezidor Hotel Group has published its 2017 Responsible Business Report. Included since 2010 in Ethisphere’s World’s Most Ethical Companies List, Rezidor is committed to work in a responsible and sustainable way. Rezidor operates 470+ hotels of sustainable hotel brands such as Radisson Blu and Park Inn by Radisson. Rezidor is a member of The Radisson Hotel Group. Rezidor is committed to caring for people, communities and the planet. The group has had a good year in 2017 with impressive engagement from an international team in 78 countries, winning two major sustainability awards, one by UNWTO and one by IMEX. In 2017, Radisson Hotel Group...

INTERNATIONAL REPORT—The TreadRight Foundation, a joint initiative between The Travel Corporation’s (TTC) family of brands, celebrates World Wildlife Day 2018 with the announcement of its newest Wildlife Initiative project partner: the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS). WCS joins leading organizations the Wilderness Foundation—Africa and Wildlife SOS—India as current TreadRight Wildlife Initiative partners, all with the shared goal of helping to ensure the planet’s most at-risk wildlife populations are protected. Through the new partnership, TreadRight is helping to support WCS’s Big Cat Fund. For more than 50 years, WCS has been a leader in big cat conservation. WCS works to conserve all big...

SPARTANBURG, S.C.—Leading global innovation company with textile, specialty chemical and floor covering manufacturing expertise, Milliken & Company’s Specialty Interiors business, has extended its sustainability leadership by recently joining the Sustainable Furnishings Council (SFC) and being honored by Unifi as a REPREVE Champion of Sustainability. Milliken Specialty Interiors has joined the Sustainable Furnishings Council as a qualifying member, pending successful application for higher-level recognition. The Sustainable Furnishings Council shares Milliken’s commitment to taking immediate steps to minimize carbon emissions, reduce other pollutants and remove unsustainable materials and chemical inputs from furnishings product platforms. The organization exists to raise awareness and expand the...

NATIONAL REPORT—The Events Industry Council (EIC) is seeking volunteers to join committees to update and improve its sustainable event standards. The APEX/ASTM Sustainable Event Standards (ASES) were launched in 2012. The standards were intended to provide an overall accepted level of performance for a sustainable/green event. They covered the nine areas of event management: accommodations, audio/visual, communications, destination selection, exhibits, food/beverage, meeting venue, on-site office, and transportation. The event industry has been slow to adopt the standards for the following reasons: as written, the standards are difficult for meeting professionals to understand and interpret, the standards’ structure limits the ability...

Sustainability is one of those buzz words we often hear when we discuss green and environmental issues. It typically applies to our use of natural resources; social responsibility; fair business profits; agriculture; the use of green cleaning products; etc. While the word sustainability seems to be getting more and more “buzz,” there seems to be growing confusion as to what it really means. Making matters more problematic, even organizations such as the United Nations and other respected, worldwide bodies that have officially defined the word in the past, are now revising those definitions. Let’s get a better understanding of what the...

SANYA, CHINA—Twenty-four Marriott International hotels in the Hainan Area went dark for one hour to shine a light on climate action in support of Earth Hour 2018. To bring Marriott’s Spirit to serve live in the local community, there was a charity donation initiative for Hainan. On March 24, every guest dining at any of Marriott International Hainan hotels’ restaurants for lunch or dinner, RMB 5 donated to the certified nonprofit organization Sanya Bright Connection supporting children with autism and cerebral palsy. “Marriott is committed to making a positive and sustainable impact wherever it does business, and create opportunities for the...