MADRID, SPAIN—The Global Tourism Plastics Initiative was officially announced yesterday by the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), in collaboration with the Ellen MacArthur Foundation. This initiative unites the tourism sector behind a common vision to tackle the root causes of plastic pollution, enabling businesses and governments to take joint action. The Global Tourism Plastics Initiative is ground-breaking and ambitious in its goals. It aims to reduce the amount of plastic pollution caused by the tourism sector. To achieve this vision, tourism companies and destinations will be required to make a set of concrete and...

BEVERLY HILLS, CALIF.—The Beverly Hilton announced a top-to-bottom hotel renovation, to be completed in April 2020, which will reintroduce the Los Angeles landmark to a new generation of leisure travelers, corporate guests and entertainment industry events. The sweeping transformation will encompass all 566 guestrooms, including nine private luxury suites, indoor-outdoor event spaces and meeting rooms, and all public spaces including the lobby and signature restaurant, CIRCA 55. Supporting Hilton in redefining sustainable travel by cutting its environmental footprint in half and doubling investment in social impact projects by 2030, the hotel renovation will bring new environmentally-conscious innovations to The Beverly...

NATIONAL REPORT—When it comes to being more eco-friendly, the first place to start is your hotel. There are several different steps you can take in order to make your home more environmentally friendly, and the good news is that with so many options out there these days, it’s entirely possible to create an environmentally friendly home that both looks fantastic and allows you to have all the comforts that you are used to. Here are some tips to keep in mind. Switch to Eco-friendly Cleaning Products When it comes to cleaning your hotel, you will want to keep it all as...

NEW YORK—LOLIWARE, the world’s leading seaweed-based material technology company replacing plastics, announced the close of a $6MM financing round, led by prominent New York venture firm Hatzimemos/Libby. As part of this announcement the company added new leadership, a new board member and announced that demand for billions of LOLIWARE’s Straw of the Future—seaweed-based, biodegradable straws—spans 68 countries across six continents. LOLIWARE will use the proceeds to meet global demand from Fortune 500 companies, scaling its first straws into the billions in 2020. LOLIWARE, co-founded by Chelsea Fawn Briganti, is focused on changing the way people think about single-use plastic. LOLIWARE’s...

FORT LAUDERDALE, FLA.—In the hospitality industry, sustainability in all areas of design is essential. From the drapery to upholstery and even the bedding, nearly everything in the room can be made from plastic bottles otherwise destined for a landfill or a water source. At Valley Forge Fabrics, being able to ensure the durability and performance needs of these textiles while also creating them from a source like plastic bottles, is a big win. It’s no secret that plastic bottles are forever, so being able to use them as a fiber that’s woven into upholstery fabrics is vital to Valley...

NEW YORK—Rocean announced its partnership with Conrad New York Downtown. The partnership will bring Rocean Zero smart filtration devices to each of Conrad New York Downtown’s 463 rooms, with the goal of reducing single-use plastics, and encouraging a circular economy across hotel operations. “Everyone wants to be doing something to help the overwhelming issue of plastic pollution, but not many people know where to start,” said Sunjay Guleria, Rocean Founder and CEO. “By acting now in 2020 and not years from now, we can save literally billions of single-use plastic water bottles over the next decade as we expand this...

NATIONAL REPORT—Almost two years ago, Green Lodging News published an article on alternatives to plastic straws. In that article, straws made from paper, bamboo, glass and polylactic acid (PLA) were mentioned as plastic alternatives. In the two years since that article was published, numerous other types of non-plastic straws have hit the market. YesStraws, formed in 2018 and maker of straws from the stalk of cane plants, recently published a list of its “19 Plastic Straw Alternatives to Save the Environment.” On that list are straws made from materials ranging from wheat to papaya leaf stems to metal. To...

KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA—Sunway Hotels & Resorts, the hospitality division of Malaysian conglomerate Sunway Group, has partnered with Kloth Cares, a Malaysian social entrepreneurship movement dedicated to keep fabrics out of landfills through rethinking, reusing, reducing, repurposing and recycling unwanted fabrics. The partnership involves Sunway Hotels & Resorts located in Kuala Lumpur, namely Sunway Resort Hotel & Spa, Sunway Pyramid Hotel, Sunway Clio Hotel, Sunway Putra Hotel and Sunway Velocity Hotel where a permanent Kloth Cares bin were placed in the respective hotels for its employees to recycle their used linen, clothes and soft toys which are then collected on a...

DENVER—Silicon Valley-incubated FloWater is one step closer to making it easier than ever before for the growing numbers of consumers looking to ditch the plastic water bottle. Attendees at CES this year (Las Vegas, January 7 to 10) will get the first glimpse at a “smarter,” IoT-connected drinking water platform. FloWater, makers of new-tech water refill stations, will unveil a development project for a cloud-connected, smart water Refill Station and mobile app, powered by Microsoft’s Azure Sphere, at Sichuan Changhong Electric’s booth (# 11439). FloWater’s development of an IoT mobile app works hand in hand with its smart water Refill...

PLACENCIA, BELIZE—Ray Caye is a small (20-unit) island resort with a very large focus on sustainability. The property is 17 miles off the coast of Belize and a short flight from Belize City, then a boat ride. It has been open for eight years but is reopening in January as Ray Caye. This is a decidedly upscale resort but there has been as much investment in environmental elements as in accommodations, according to Dasha Shivers, the resort’s General Manager. Seriously Solar On the solar front, the resort has a solar array of 100 KW (total of all installed solar panels); a...