LAGRANGE, GA.—Lindsay James, a seven-year veteran of Interface Americas who most recently was the modular carpet tile manufacturer’s Director of Strategic Sustainability, has been named Vice President of Restorative Enterprise.In announcing the promotion, John Wells, Interface Americas president and CEO, explained, “The formation of the Restorative Enterprise team is a next step in our company’s journey to our 2020 Mission Zero goal and our promise to eliminate any negative impact our manufacturing and products have on the environment. This team is charged with helping to transform our company into an enterprise that restores the environment as well as preserves...

RENO, NEV.—The Siena Hotel Spa Casino announced they are moving toward greener solutions by converting from traditional paper slips to virtual drawings and digital comp slips. The Siena, located in Reno, Nev., has purchased a software system to enhance the players’ experience while supporting the environment. Now, players no longer have to retrieve and keep tickets they earn to win in drawings; the virtual drawing randomly selects a lucky winner. In addition, new digital comp slips allow for players to easily access their comps earned at any outlet throughout the property just by showing their Siena Rewards Card.The new...

SILVER SPRING, MD.—Choice Hotels International’s announcement that it will require U.S. Econo Lodge hotels to participate in its Room to be Green program should elevate its overall number of Room to be Green participants to approximately 2,000 U.S. hotels by the end of the year. Currently, Room to be Green is an optional program for Choice’s other brands. Created in 2008, Room to be Green includes three elements: compact fluorescent or LED bulbs in all guest fixtures, excluding ceiling lights; a towel/linen reuse program; and recycling for guests and staff. Choice hotels that participate in Room to be Green...

HAUPPAUGE, N.Y.—Glaro Inc., a leading manufacturer of metal recycling receptacles, announces a new way for facility managers to create their own RecyclePro recycling stations without hiring a designer or consultant. According to executives, while it is common to order three or more recycling receptacles of the same diameter (for example 15”) and connect them, customers can now join various Glaro recycling receptacle sizes together to create their own unique recycling station. The key to this innovation is the Glaro aluminum connector bracket. “The result of using Glaro Inc. connector brackets is that customers can form any configuration that they...

DURHAM, N.C.—Graduate students from the Sanford School of Public Policy at Duke University have teamed up with the National Restaurant Association to examine how best to deploy a zero-waste program for restaurateurs in Durham, N.C.The students, all enrolled in the university’s public policy master’s degree program, have taken on the assignment as a three-month-long consulting project that calls for analytical research and recommendations on implementation of a zero-waste program. They also will explore the challenges and barriers business operators face regarding adoption of zero-waste initiatives.“The Duke team is helping us review and analyze how best to develop a zero-waste...

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...