CHICAGO—Environmental sustainability, sustainable seafood and food-waste reduction are among the top trends at restaurants in 2015, according to the National Restaurant Association’s annual What’s Hot culinary forecast. The NRA, as it does every year, surveyed approximately 1,300 professional chefs—all members of the American Culinary Federation—to determine the industry’s hottest trends, and in 2015 sustainability is going to be center of the plate, the respondents said.“We’ve been seeing strong trends toward sustainability in the food space for several years now and that’s going to continue to grow,” said Annika Stensson, the NRA’s Senior Manager of Research Communications. “Chefs and restaurateurs...

ST. JOHN’S, ANTIGUA—Antigua and Barbuda will implement a new tourism action agenda, following consultation with more than 50 tourism stakeholders in the private and government sector. The action plan will focus on three destination stewardship initiatives: the development of a sustainable tourism strategy, new community-based cultural tourism products, and the mapping of cultural heritage sites.Stakeholders developed the action plan in August during a sustainable destination assessment workshop coordinated by the Ministry of Tourism, The Antigua and Barbuda Tourism Authority and conducted under the banner of the Sustainable Destinations Alliance for the Americas (SDAA), supported through funding from Royal Caribbean...

PHILIPSBURG, ST MAARTEN—The Westin Dawn Beach Resort & Spa, St. Maarten made its mark as a game-changer in the hospitality industry by completing a landmark solar installation earlier this year that allows the resort to produce six to eight hours of its own power during peak times. The resort has harnessed the power of the Caribbean sun for more than a year and reached an environmental milestone by generating one gigawatt hour of solar power, or one billion watt-hours. The resort also just installed a completely oil-free Smardt Chiller to further conserve energy; the Chiller is used in the...

TORONTO—The Metro Toronto Convention Centre (MTCC) announced it has received two coveted distinctions for its sustainability commitment, showing green leadership at both national and provincial levels. MTCC earned the LEED Gold certification by the Canada Green Building Council, the certifying body in Canada for the international rating system, which stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design. This certification, achieved by the MTCC’s south building in the Existing Building: Operations & Maintenance version of the rating system, makes MTCC one of the first Canadian convention centers to earn a gold rating.In the same week, the Tourism Industry Association of...

CLINTON, MD.—The TownePlace Suites is located across Old Alexander Ferry Road from Joint Base Andrews. A large segment of the hotel’s guest base is military personnel on temporary duty at Joint Base Andrews. The hotel prides itself on providing a “home away from home” and an inviting atmosphere to support troops. Both as part of participating in the military’s mission expanding the use of renewable energy, and as a way to cut costs and maintain affordable rates, the hotel started looking into a solar photovoltaic energy system last year.“We thought that solar would enhance our ability to offer a...

CHEVY CHASE, MD.—The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Co. has become the first Founding Partner of IMPACT 2030: The Global Initiative for the Advancement of Corporate Volunteering. IMPACT 2030 was introduced at the United Nations on Friday, December 5, 2014 on “International Volunteer Day” where The Ritz-Carlton and the fellow Founding Partner companies showcased the meaningful difference their employees are making locally, nationally and internationally through corporate volunteering.IMPACT 2030 is a global private sector led collaboration created to mobilize corporate volunteers to contribute to achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. The Initiative’s partner companies recognize that a commitment to corporate volunteering—when...

LONDON—To mark Human Rights Day 2014, the International Tourism Partnership (ITP) has released its latest Know How Guide on Human Rights and the Hotel Industry. The guide is a high-level introduction to human rights for the hotel industry—what human rights are, what they are in the context of the hotel industry, steps to implement the UN Guiding Principles and resources for further reading. Hotels touch every corner of the globe and employ and offer hospitality to millions of people very year. The hotel industry therefore has an important role to play when it comes to human rights and it...

FORT LAUDERDALE, FLA.—Koncept Events recently took an inspired cue from their mega client Nutra Blend, and took to the streets of South Florida to extend Nutra Blend’s “Drive to Feed Kids” program to their hotel brand partners in an effort to drive away hunger in South Florida.With seven hotels and more than 116 participants, 215 bagged meals were created and an additional 35 pounds of food was donated to the South Florida chapter of Feeding America. Hotels that participated in this event included the Bonaventure Resort & Spa, W Fort Lauderdale, Sheraton Fort Lauderdale Beach, The Westin Beach Resort...

ANN ARBOR, MICH.—NSF Sustainability, a division of global independent public health organization NSF International, has certified TexaStone Quarries to the sustainability assessment standard for stone—ANSI/NSC 373 Sustainable Production of Natural Dimension Stone.Certification to ANSI/NSC 373 is based on point totals to achieve Bronze, Silver, Gold or Platinum level certification. TexaStone’s quarry earned Gold level certification and its processing facility earned Silver level certification to the standard, which includes criteria for the environmental aspects of stone production including water, transportation, site management, land reclamation and adaptive reuse, and management of excess process materials and waste. Monitoring and periodic re-evaluation is...

NEW YORK—Six patterns of Carnegie’s proprietary high performance Xorel have earned the USDA Certified Biobased Product Label which verifies that the product’s amount of renewable biobased ingredients meets or exceeds levels set by USDA. Biobased products are finished or intermediate materials composed in whole or in significant part of agricultural, forestry or marine ingredients.The following biobased Xorel patterns qualify as USDA Certified Biobased Products with between 68 to 89 percent of the polyethylene content being derived from rapidly renewable sugarcane: Dash, 68 percent biobased content; Nexus: 89 percent biobased content; Strie, 89 percent biobased content; Abacus Embroider, 85 percent...