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Waste Management

From the guestroom to the loading dock, waste is a perpetual challenge for hoteliers. Fortunately, there are many ways to reduce waste—through intelligent purchasing, packaging, recycling and education. Got a great idea about how to turn green into gold? Contact Glenn Hasek, editor, at (813) 510-3868, or by e-mail at: greenlodgingnews@gmail.com.

Waste Management

Home Waste Management
From the guestroom to the loading dock, waste is a perpetual challenge for hoteliers. Fortunately, there are many ways to reduce waste—through intelligent purchasing, packaging, recycling and education. Got a great idea about how to turn green into gold? Contact Glenn Hasek, editor, at (813) 510-3868, or by e-mail at: greenlodgingnews@gmail.com.

Seattle’s Cedarbrook Lodge Taps into New Green Products

SEATTLE—Furthering its commitment to sustainable hotel operations and guest services, Seattle’s Cedarbrook Lodge announces additions to its sustainability initiatives, including electric vehicle (EV) charging stations powered by ECOtality, Inc., and freshly filtered and purified drinking water through a partnership with Nordaq FRESH. “Since its inception, Cedarbrook has strived to be a leader in responsible, ‘green’ hotel operations,” said Scott Ostrander, general manager of Cedarbrook Lodge. “We’re excited to launch several new elements and additions to our extensive sustainability initiatives both on the operational and guest service levels of the property.” Cedarbrook is the first hotel in Washington state to partner with...

Xanterra’s Hunger for Data is Part of Its ‘Ecometabolism’

GREENWOOD VILLAGE, COLO.—Its tracking mechanism may not be the most sophisticated in the industry—it consists of a master spreadsheet file—but there may be no better company in the world at tracking its environmental impact than Xanterra Parks & Resorts. For almost 11 years now Xanterra has been tracking everything from its carbon emissions to the percentage of solid waste diverted. Xanterra calls its tracking system “Ecometrix.” It falls under the company’s larger “Ecologix” program. Introduced in the company’s most recent sustainability report is yet another term—“Ecometabolism”—which is defined as “a measure of resource usage normalized by annual dollars of...

NSF to Administer Certified Compostable Program for Plastics

ANN ARBOR, MICH.—To handle a five-fold increase in compostable plastic product certifications since 2006, global independent public health organization NSF International has been named the new administrator of the Biodegradable Products Institute’s (BPI) Certified Compostable program. NSF International will administer the BPI program through its NSF Sustainability division, which provides testing and verification of environmental claims for consumer products, green chemicals, and sustainable furnishing and building materials such as carpet, flooring and fabrics. NSF also provides process verification services, which include greenhouse gas verification, environmental footprinting, and environmental management systems registrations. NSF earned accreditation in 2010 to provide the testing portion...

IMEX Trade Show Saw Significant Drop in Waste Generation

FRANKFURT, GERMANY—A campaign to reduce overall waste output from the IMEX in Frankfurt trade show, whether recyclable or not, has seen waste levels drop significantly over the past three years. The total amount of waste generated went down from 167 tons in 2009 to 121 tons in 2011, a reduction of 28 percent. As part of its commitment to improved environmental management and protection, IMEX organizers have worked closely with the management team at Messe Frankfurt to implement a series of waste reduction measures over the years. Year on year IMEX has also set itself waste reduction targets in...

Waikiki Parc Hotel Selects Hospitality Battery Holder

HONOLULU—The Waikiki Parc Hotel has installed the Hospitality Battery Holder in its 297 guestrooms, helping the environment and saving money at the same time. The hotel is expected to save more than $5,000 within the next five years by replacing the conventional battery packs with the Hospitality Battery Holder.“The Waikiki Parc Hotel will be discontinuing the wrap-around battery packs and instead will use our environmentally friendly battery holders,” says Charlie Rodriguez, account manager for the Hospitality Battery Holder. “That will allow the hotel to use rechargeable batteries instead of the yearly disposable battery packs.”  Go to Hospitality Battery Holder.

Case Study: Sheraton Hotel & Conference Center in Burlington

BURLINGTON, VERMONT—Increasing recycling, implementing a food waste collection program for composting, and increasing green purchasing have allowed the 309-room  in Burlington, Vermont to reduce its environmental footprint, save money on disposal, and to be recognized as a Green Hotel through the Green Hotels in the Green Mountain State Program (also known as the Vermont Green Hotels Program).In April 2009, the Sheraton Hotel agreed to work with the Northeast Recycling Council (NERC), the Vermont Green Hotels Program, and EPA New England to increase its overall recycling, initiate a food waste diversion program, and to increase and document its green purchasing...

Accor Shares its Environmental Impact Assessment Findings

PARIS—Accor recently decided to assess its environmental impact 15 years after it took a stand and started taking concrete action to embrace sustainable development. The company began working on gauging its environmental footprint at the end of 2010. The study stretches beyond measuring greenhouse-gas emissions to encompass energy and water consumption, water pollution and waste generation throughout lifecycles in the Group. “Four thousand and two hundred hotels in 90 countries, 145,000 employees, 56 million breakfasts a year and almost 545 million liters of water a year all add up to the environmental impact that we are now in a position...

Riegel Turning Plastic Bottles Into Table Linen

JOHNSTON, S.C.—Riegel div. Mount Vernon Mills, Inc. is turning plastic bottles into durable table linen. RieNu by Riegel is a 100 percent recycled polyester linen produced from Eco-Sure, a 100 percent post-consumer recycled PET as confirmed by Scientific Certification Systems. One 20x20 napkin made from RieNu recycled polyester fabric eliminates three 16 ounce plastic bottles from landfills.RieNu by Riegel promises to feel like Premier, a 100 percent spun polyester product. Quality tested and proven to perform equally as well, RieNu by Riegel is proven to maintain Premier’s high quality standards that are expected in the marketplace today. Each product...

Green Lodging News Adds Protect-A-Bed Case Study to Website

CLEVELAND, OHIO—Hasek Communications, the Cleveland, Ohio-based publisher of Green Lodging News, has added a Protect-A-Bed case study to its website. The case study focuses on the Mansion at Judges’ Hill in Austin, Texas and how it is benefiting from Protect-A-Bed’s mattress encasements. The 48-room property is using the encasements to meet the needs of allergy-sensitive guests, as a preventive measure against bed bugs, and to extend the life of mattresses that otherwise might be destroyed once soiled. The encasements are protecting the property’s mattresses so that they can be recycled at the end of their life.To read the case...

Universal Textile Partners with Grand Teton National Park

DALTON, GA.—Universal Textile Technologies (UTT) announced a new initiative to incorporate bottles collected from Grand Teton National Park into its manufacturing process. UTT converts the plastic bottles into a non-woven fleece material used to manufacture high-performance environmentally friendly backing for carpet and synthetic turf products. Now termed the PET Park Project, UTT is working in partnership with The Grand Teton National Park, Teton County Solid Waste and Recycling, CPE, Inc., and the United Soybean Board (USB). Americans generate an enormous amount of waste material every day. In the Grand Teton park millions of annual visitors are educated on the positive...