If you’re reading this you recognize that there is a portion of your customer base who values green initiatives and you are trying to reach those guests. Those guests may be groups who have made “green” a criterion for selecting locations for their meetings or annual conferences. Or they may be individuals who are extending their environmental values to all aspects of their life—even recreation and travel. But how do you showcase your green commitment? It’s not easy to see green. To showcase your green commitment, don’t overlook the value of prominent high-aesthetic recycling containers. Whether it’s fair or not,...

SEATTLE—Two Seattle based travel companies, Crooked Trails and Wildland Adventures, launched a global initiative called Travelers Against Plastic (TAP) to spread awareness about the worldwide impacts of disposable plastic water bottles, and to garner support from outbound tour operators to have their clients carry reusable water bottles and a SteriPEN or filtering system, the next time they travel abroad.The call to action is for everyone to visit www.travelersagainstplastic.org where travelers can sign the pledge to avoid purchasing bottled water while abroad. Tour operators can pledge to support the campaign by supplying their clients with information on how to travel...

WATERFORD, N.Y.—North America’s fourth largest producer of towel and tissue paper, Cascades Tissue Group, announced an extension of its Cascades Moka line with the launch of the first-ever, unbleached, 100 percent recycled, environmentally preferable facial tissue. This new beige-colored facial tissue unique to Cascades follows the award-winning, January 2012 launch of the Cascades Moka bathroom tissue, which created a new category of bathroom tissue that quickly sold through its initial inventory and is now a growing category for the company.Just like its bathroom tissue predecessor, the new Cascades Moka facial tissue is made of a pulp mix composed of...

SAN DIEGO—Kirei’s new recycled millwork panel collection illustrates the phrase “one man’s trash is another’s treasure.” The Pacific Coastal Collection redwood and blue pine millwork panels are built using falloff from flooring or casework manufacture and waste wood from beetle-killed pine trees from across the western United States. The result is a set of design materials that turn industrial waste components into new eco-friendly interior design looks.“The material no one wants is our gold—to us it’s where the real beauty lies,” says John Stein, Kirei owner.To make the Pacific Coastal Collection, discarded redwood falloff pieces are planed to shape...

CINCINNATI—Procter & Gamble, the company behind consumer brands including Gillette, Ariel, Tide and Pampers, announced that 45 of their facilities have now achieved zero manufacturing waste to landfill, which marks a major step toward the company’s long-term vision of sending zero manufacturing and consumer waste to landfills. Over the past five years, P&G’s work to find worth in waste has created more than $1 billion in value for the company.“We have a vision for the future, where plants are powered by renewable energy, products are made from recycled and renewable materials and resources are conserved, with no waste going...

LONDON—A growing body of evidence suggests tackling food waste could help resolve many of the sustainability challenges faced by the food industry. A number of studies are linking food losses and waste to food inflation, food security, resource inputs and climate change.The global food industry is currently experiencing its third bout of food inflation in five years because of poor agricultural harvests in the United States, Russia and South America. Analysts predict the average basket of food prices will rise by 15 percent by June 2013. The hike in food prices is raising concerns about food security and its...

DOVER, DEL.—Ed Sutor, president and CEO of Dover Downs Hotel & Casino, announces that the hotel is in the process of implementing an in-room recycling program, allowing guests to participate in separating recyclables from regular landfill waste.“Our goal is to reduce the amount of waste going to the landfill,” Sutor said. “We are in the process of converting receptacles in the bedrooms/suites area to a container for recyclables only, and keeping the waste receptacle in the bathroom for trash only. With the help of our green-conscious guests, we hope to see a significant increase in our overall recycling efforts.”“We...

HONOLULU, HAWAII—Last year, eight Outrigger Hotels and Resorts properties in Waikiki waged war on waste by encouraging hotel guests to go green. More than 883,000 recyclable plastic bottles and aluminum cans were collected from guestrooms for a total weight of more than 20 tons, up from 17.5 tons in 2011. This record company performance, if stacked end to end, would equal the height of a whopping 30 Mauna Kea mountains or a tower 540 times taller than Diamond Head. Outrigger launched the in-room recycling program in 2006 at its two Waikiki beachfront hotels, encouraging visitors to leave plastic bottles...

HERNDON, VA.—Staff members at the Washington Dulles Marriott Suites can’t help getting all bubbly when they talk about the Herndon hotel’s latest charitable effort. The hotel is one of just a few hotels near Dulles airport to team up with Clean the World, a nonprofit that collects soaps, shampoos, conditioners and lotions discarded by the hospitality industry every day. The organization, which operates in all 50 states, Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico and 10 Canadian provinces, then uses a patent-pending process to clean the products so volunteers can redistribute them for humanitarian purposes around the globe.Hand washing with soap significantly...

NATIONAL REPORT—On a winter’s day when the temperature in the Washington, D.C. area soared into the 70s, the ASAE Convene Green Alliance (CGA) took an adventurous group of 20 meeting professionals and industry partners on a behind-the-scenes “Green Safari” tour of the sustainability program at the Renaissance Arlington Capital View, one of only three LEED Gold certified hotels in Virginia. Participants received bandanas to wear and were greeted by Renaissance associates dressed in pith helmets and safari gear to set the theme for this unique learning format. The Green Safari demonstrated how the property earned LEED Gold status and how it...