ALPHARETTA, GA.—The Refinishing Touch, a leader in furniture refinishing, re-upholstering and armoire modification for private and public organizations, has been certified as ISO 9001:2008 compliant by the International Organization for Standardization, holding certificate 588518.The ISO 9001:2008 certification is given to companies that have demonstrated the ability to consistently provide a product or service to meet customer, statutory and regulatory requirements, and that aim to continually enhance customer satisfaction through systems and processes. ISO 9001:2008 requirements are applicable to all organizations, regardless of industry, size or product.The Refinishing Touch has been a leader in environmentally-safe, fiscally-responsible furniture asset management solutions...

MONROE, WIS.—Arthur Bartsch, owner of Wisconsin’s Super 8 of Monroe, has spent the last 15 years trying to figure out how to remove inefficiencies from his 54-room property in Monroe, Wis. He is way past the “low hanging fruit” and well on his way to running one of the greenest lodging establishments in Wisconsin and possibly even the entire United States. The Energy Star rating for the Super 8 of Monroe in 2012, the first year he ran his numbers in the Energy Star Portfolio manager? A 95. That means the hotel, from an energy efficiency standpoint, has been...

ORLANDO, FLA.—Hotel industry veteran Brian Guernier LEED AP BD&C recently launched Pillow-Fresh in Orlando to provide the local hospitality industry with the knowledge and equipment necessary to implement pillow renovation as a means to save money and reduce landfill waste.   Changes in hotel bedding over the last 15 years has resulted in pillow proliferation in hotels. A typical hotel room has between six to 10 sleeping pillows, or roughly 2,100 pillows per 300-room hotel. At a weight of 2.5 lbs. per pillow this equates to roughly 2.5 tons of landfill waste every two years. Most brands require operators to...

BETHESDA, MD.—Marriott International, Inc. has become an official hotel partner of Clean the World, a nonprofit that collects, recycles and distributes discarded soaps and other hygiene amenities to communities in need. With nearly 47,000 rooms (more than 200 hotels) already participating, Marriott is the number one hotel chain in the Clean the World portfolio, having collected nearly 1 million soap bars and amenity bottles and diverting more than 120 tons of waste from landfills since 2009. “We are guests on this planet, and conservation ensures our resources are sustained for generations to come,” said Denise Naguib, Marriott International’s vice...

SILVER SPRING, MD.—Econo Lodge hotels, franchised by Choice Hotels International, one of the world’s largest hotel companies, announced it will be the first national economy hotel chain to promote green practices across an entire lodging portfolio. All Econo Lodge hotels in the United States will implement the Choice Hotels Room to be Green (RTBG) program in 2013. The program is designed to reduce environmental impact and waste, meet the changing expectations of today’s environmentally conscious guests and potentially lower operational expenses, (including energy and water costs) at the property level.Econo Lodge, which currently has almost 900 domestic hotel properties...

WETHERSFIELD, CONN.—Waste to Water LLC, manufacturer of the Made in USA Bio-EZ family of food decomposition machines, announced the addition of two new sales representative organizations to their rapidly growing international sales team. Waste to Water now has sale agents deployed in 22 states and four countries. Acosta Cornerstone is now responsible for sales in the states of Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland, Virginia, and West Virginia. Kv41 LLC is managing sales in the states of Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming.Bio-EZ is a USA manufactured machine that decomposes up to 2,000 pounds...

CARMEL, IND.—RCI, a leader in vacation exchange and part of the Wyndham Worldwide family of brands, announced that Gold Coast (Australia) visitors can simultaneously help the environment and support local charities through a new creative green initiative introduced by RCI.The RCI program, branded Green Fingers, encourages visiting guests to deposit unwanted, non-perishable food upon departure for donation to local charities. RCI has teamed up with Gold Coast’s Mariner Shores Resort and Nepean Country Club and Day Spa to pilot this food recycling program.The two-pronged project aims at encouraging guests to have minimal impact on the local environment while directly...

ORLANDO, FLA.—Anyone attending The NAFEM Show from February 7 to 9 with the goal of greening up their kitchen would have found hundreds of ways to do so thanks to the innovations brought to the trade show floor by the more than 500 exhibitors in attendance. The North American Association of Food Equipment Manufacturers event, held every two years, attracted approximately 20,000 foodservice professionals to the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, Fla.Companies touted advancements in cooking, ventilation, water filtration, water recycling, water heating, cooking oil management, ice making, warewashing, food waste management, refrigeration, balers, and even vegetable, herb...

CLEVELAND, OHIO—Hasek Communications, the Cleveland, Ohio-based publisher of Green Lodging News, welcomes Green Suites Hotel Solutions as a Green Product & Service Directory partner. Green Suites Hotel Solutions offers amenity dispensers in four different designs. Dispensers offer savings from 30 to 70 percent when compared to traditional bottles and bars. Dispensers are available with high quality, name brand products (pre-filled or bulk) such as Sonoma, Paya, Aromaland, Scan, and Natura. Green Suites Hotel Solutions’ EcoSense Dispenser Program is a no-cost capital program that reduces dispenser costs to just pennies per occupied room per day.Call (800) 224-4451, e-mail sales@greensuites.com, or...

IRVING, TEXAS—The Irving Convention and Visitors Bureau (ICVB) announces the Irving Convention Center at Las Colinas (ICCLC) project as the fifth convention center in the country to achieve LEED Silver certified by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) and verified by the Green Building Certification Institute (GBCI). LEED is the nation’s preeminent program for the design, construction and operation of high performance green buildings. “We had a distinct opportunity with the design and construction of the ICCLC to create a new icon for the destination that would set a standard, for sustainability as well as for a new category...