OAKLAND, CALIF.—Everyday a tsunami of plastic hangers streams into landfills—93 million a day according to HANGD, an environmental coalition against the rising numbers of virgin plastic hangers finding their way into municipal dumps. That results in 34 billion plastic hangers every year and growing, enough to fill almost 20 Empire State Buildings.And they don’t do it quietly. They leach benzene, a carcinogen, and bisphenyl, a hormone disruptor into our ground water. And they do it for a very long time, estimated up to 1,000 years. All for a simple, one-use plastic hanger.“Virgin plastic is a terrible material to make...

SPOKANE, WASH.—Ecova, the total energy and sustainability management company, has been selected by Caesars Entertainment to help the company reach its CodeGreen goal of reducing waste generation by 50 percent by 2020. As a leader in environmental sustainability in the gaming entertainment industry, Caesars, which operates under the Caesars, Harrah’s and Horseshoe brand names, demonstrates their commitment to sustainability by reducing waste, reporting their greenhouse gas emissions to the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) with the help of Ecova, a CDP accredited provider, and by leveraging the Ecova Energy and Sustainability Management Platform to gather additional insight to optimize its...

LAS VEGAS—MGM Resorts International employee volunteers build a house from the ground up, and hand over the keys to an elated single mother and her children. Tens of millions of dollars are spent conducting business with minority- and women-owned enterprises, supporting the company's strategic objectives and commitment to diversity. MGM Resorts and NRG Renew partner to install one of the nation’s largest rooftop solar arrays at Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino, stretching a massive 20 acres.These are just a few of the powerful displays of corporate citizenship chronicled in MGM Resorts’ 2014 Annual Corporate Social Responsibility Report. Themed “Inspiration...

MIDLAND, MICH.—Dow Building Solutions (DBS), a business unit of The Dow Chemical Co., announced STYROFOAM extruded polystyrene foam insulation products in North America have received validation from UL Environment that they contain 20 percent pre-consumer recycled content on average. This verification marks the latest sustainability milestone for Dow insulation products, which also hold Cradle to Cradle certification.   “UL Environment is proud to have worked with Dow Building Solutions to validate the recycled content claims for their STYROFOAM Insulation Products,” said Lisa Meier, Vice President and General Manager of UL Environment. “Dow’s pursuit of third-party substantiation demonstrates their commitment to...

GREENVILLE, S.C.—Discarded soap and bottled amenities left behind by guests at JHM Hotels’ properties now have a second life thanks to a recycling program from Clean the World that helps fight the spread of preventable diseases.Used soap and plastic amenity bottles from all JHM Hotels’ properties are shipped to a Clean the World Recycling Operations Center, where they are sanitized and repurposed. Clean the World’s simple mission is to recycle hotel soap and save lives. The organization has partnered with more than 4,000 hotels and resorts to put life-saving hygiene products in the hands of those who need them...

NIAGARA FALLS, ON.—Niagara Casinos was awarded a 4 Green Keys rating from Green Key Global acknowledging their sustainable convention facilities and practices, topping off another year of substantial environmental initiatives at both Fallsview Casino Resort and Casino Niagara.Green Key Global, a leading environmental certification body, takes a comprehensive look at how facilities perform in key areas, such as: energy, water, waste, training, policies, procurement, auditing, air quality, and more. Facilities are then awarded a rating from one to five Keys, five being the highest attainable. Detailed performance reports showcase accomplishments while also outlining improvements to be considered.“We consider this...

SEATTLE—Canadian coffee roaster, Club Coffee, recently announced the PurPod100, which will be the world’s first 100 percent compostable, fully certified single-serve beverage pod. “The amount of used single-serve pods sent into the waste stream last year could have circled the earth 11 times,” said John Pigott, CEO, Club Coffee. “That’s not acceptable. We have the most viable solution available to that issue—a pod that will be certified as 100 percent compostable and can be converted to useful compost.”“As a large manufacturer and distributor of packaged coffee, we have a responsibility to our customers, and to society, to reduce the...

NATIONAL REPORT—Much has been written about the many millions of partially used bars of soap and amenity bottles disposed of each year. Thanks to Clean the World and other nonprofits, a sizable amount of that waste is now being repurposed. But what about k cups, those little single-serve beverage (mostly coffee) pods used in Keurig Green Mountain brewers? According to research by data firm NPD Group, 40 percent of Canadian homes have a single-serving coffee brewer. In the United States that number is closer to 30 percent. An estimated 20+ billion k cups will be consumed in 2015. Many...

VICTORIA, B.C.—AP Plastics Inc. is rolling out its newest single-cup capsule displays for hotel rooms. The 4 and 6 hole (SCF4 & SCF6) K-Cup holders will be part of their proprietary Guest Room Single Cup Display System, and will be available to ship this month.The new “ship flat” displays are manufactured in North America with 100 percent reprocessed and recyclable plastic. Their unique “click open” design reduces both packaging and freight costs.“With the hotel industry commitment to green sourcing, finding appropriate sustainable single cup amenities has been problematic,” says Darren Warner, Marketing Director, AP Plastics Inc. “The new SCF...

YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK—A new employee residence in Old Faithful Village in Yellowstone National Park has received a Platinum rating by the U.S. Green Building Council’s (USGBC) Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design (LEED) program. The residence was built by concessioner Yellowstone National Park Lodges, operated by Xanterra Parks & Resorts.The project is the first Platinum-rated certification achieved by a concession operator inside a national park. Platinum is the highest LEED certification level and accounts for only about seven percent of all LEED-certified projects.In order to achieve LEED certification, the project needed to meet stringent sustainability requirements in areas such...