NEW YORK—With sustainability as a core value from its inception, a new Corporate Social Responsibility Report (CSR) Report from Humanscale underscores the company’s commitment to achieving a net positive impact and lays out a corporate sustainability roadmap raising the bar for the manufacturing industry. The new CSR report reveals several areas of focus, including material transparency, responsible manufacturing and hand printing, and highlights Humanscale’s progress as it works toward its own ambitious goals. Continuing a decade-long trend of reduction, in the past year alone, the company reduced normalized energy by 10 percent and reduced greenhouse gases by 12 percent...

PALMA DE MALLORCA, SPAIN—Oceans make up approximately 70 percent of the Earth’s surface and are a vital resource for sustaining life on the planet. The Iberostar Group, a hotel chain with strong ties to the oceans and seas—more than 80 percent of its hotels boast seafront locations—is determined to make a real and effective contribution to the protection and conservation of this unique asset. To accomplish this, the Iberostar Group has implemented its ‘Wave of Change’ program, an ambitious initiative designed in line with Goal 14 of the SDGs (United Nations Sustainable Development Goals), focused on three main areas: the...

NIAGARA-ON-THE-LAKE, ONT.— Plastic is on its way out at White Oaks Resort & Spa. Following in the wake of many top brands and destinations worldwide, The Green Team at White Oaks has eliminated plastic straws resort-wide. Guests will be able to request a straw and an earth friendly compostable option will be provided. Along with straws, starting this month, all plastic water bottles will be replaced with a water program from Naturizzata Bottle Co. “Instead of arriving at your meeting with unlimited bottles of water on the table, or in our continuous coffee break fridges, beautiful custom etched glass water bottles...

SAN DIEGO—By the year 2050, the world’s population will reach nearly 10 billion, and there will be more plastic waste in the ocean than fish. California-based natural product company Outsect Corp. is launching TwentyFifty cutlery to help reduce the amount of food and beverage packaging waste found in landfills and in the ocean. The 100 percent biodegradable and compostable cutlery promises a design tough enough to pick up food, yet readily compost in a natural environment. This week, the company launched a Kickstarter campaign in the hopes of raising $30,000 to help bring its patent-pending, grain-based compostable cutlery to...

ORLANDO—For more than 60 years, Disney has maintained a commitment to environmental stewardship that it has acted upon in both big and small ways around the world. Since 1995, the Disney Conservation Fund has directed more than $70 million to reverse the decline of wildlife around the world. In 2017, The Walt Disney Co. reduced its net greenhouse gas emissions by 41 percent and diverted nearly 50 percent of waste from landfills and incineration, making significant progress on its long-term goal of attaining a zero state of net greenhouse gas emissions and waste, while conserving water resources. Disney has announced...

MIAMI BEACH, FLA.—Vero Water, a leading provider of luxury still and sparkling water to the hospitality industry, announced its rapid expansion in the Caribbean and Latin America in partnership with OneLink Global, a world-class distribution and service partner with unique experience and insight in the region. OneLink is committed to providing sustainable solutions to the hospitality industry. The exclusive distribution agreement expands Vero’s global footprint into regions where hotels and resorts dominate the landscape and are seeking an eco-friendly alternative to traditional bottled water. “Recently major players in the hospitality industry both in the U.S. and abroad have announced they...

“I cannot control the world, but I can control my world.” That’s what Christian de Boer told me in a recent conversation. Our world needs more like him. Originally from The Netherlands, Christian is now Managing Director of Jaya House River Park, a 36-room hotel in Siem Reap, Cambodia. Those who know their history know that Cambodia was a terrible place to be in the 1970s. Cambodia remains one of the poorest, least developed countries in Asia, but life is getting better Christian told me. “I have been in the country 11 years,” he said. “The changes have been unbelievable.” With...

PHILADELPHIA—Aramark, a global leader in food, facilities management and uniforms, announced a commitment to significantly reduce single-use disposable plastics, across its global food service operations, by 2022. Single-use plastic items include straws, stirrers, bags, cutlery and various packaging materials. Aramark will implement actions across the 19 countries where it serves 2 billion meals annually in schools and workplaces, sports and leisure venues, hospitals and other locations. Every year, more than 8 million tons of plastics are leaked into the world’s oceans. According to a recent Aramark consumer survey, the majority (60 percent) of respondents are concerned with the overuse of...

BOSTON—RecyclingWorks MA just released a video and a case study about the Westin Boston Waterfront Hotel (WBW) waste management program. The video featured WBW’s Anthony Dinatale (Director of Engineering) and Ashley Dilieto (Engineering Coordinator and Chair of the Sustainability Committee), and Waste Management’s Scott Peters (Major Account Manager). WBW has a comprehensive single-stream recycling program with containers throughout the property, including guestrooms. They train their staff by using e-mails, newsletters and signs; and at department meetings and the hotel’s Green Week and Earth Day activities. Sustainability Committee members take field trips to learn about new practices and technologies. The WBW food waste program has...

SIEM REAP, CAMBODIA—Early last year, Christian de Boer, Managing Director of Jaya House River Park, a 36-room hotel in Siem Reap, Cambodia, launched a campaign to get businesses throughout the region to offer refillable aluminum water bottles instead of disposable plastic ones. The campaign, called Refill Not Landfill, has already avoided the placement of 1.2 million plastic bottles into Cambodia’s waste stream. More than 40 members of Siem Reap’s hospitality and tourism industries and development sector have joined ReFill Not Landfill. Key to the success of the campaign is a sophisticated way to show bottle users where they can fill...