CHICAGO—George McKerrow Jr., co-founder and chief executive of casual-dining restaurant chain Ted’s Montana Grill, recently signed a straw-free pledge that would require diners at his restaurants to ask for drinking straws instead of automatically being given one with their beverage orders.McKerrow, a longtime proponent of sustainability and sustainable business practices at his restaurants, signed the Be Straw Free pledge January 29, as a way of educating the public on how the use of plastic straws impacts the environment.The campaign is the brainchild of 11-year-old Milo Cress, a Boulder, Colo., resident who started the campaign in 2011. He is encouraging...

ALPHARETTA, GA.—The Refinishing Touch, a leader in on-site environmentally safe and sustainable furniture refinishing and re-upholstering for private and public organizations, has expanded its Touch Textiles fabric division with a new eco-friendly recycled leather line, Embrace.Embrace recycled leather gives The Refinishing Touch’s customers, which include hospitality, government and education institutions, the benefits and aesthetics of traditional leather at a fraction of the cost. It also maintains The Refinishing Touch’s commitment to environmentally-responsible products and services. It is available immediately as part of The Refinishing Touch’s Touch Textiles fabric offerings.Touch Textiles is The Refinishing Touch’s line of commercial fabrics, adding...

NATIONAL REPORT—Green Lodging News recently sent queries to more than 30 suppliers of green amenities, asking them what “new and hot” products they will be making available to the hospitality market in 2013. Eleven companies responded and sent product descriptions as well as photos of their product lines. Throughout the material there was common language—indicators of what is now accepted as “green” when considering amenities. Several suppliers mentioned adding an additive to their tubes or bottles to accelerate the speed at which the plastic biodegrades in landfills. Others mentioned cardboard packaging made with recycled content. Also common: the use...

SEQUIM, WASH.—Taking the concept of existing-structure “recycling” to heart, Olaf and Charlotte Protze have built a thriving bed and breakfast business out of retired cabooses. The Red Caboose Getaway B&B, located in Sequim, Wash., offers accommodations in six luxuriously renovated train cars that the owners have had transported from various U.S. locations. The couple have three additional cabooses on their three acre property that are currently undergoing renovation.Olaf and Charlotte had long enjoyed visiting B&Bs and eventually fell in love with the idea of staying in renovated railcars. “Most are very rustic,” Olaf says. “I thought we could do...

LONDON—Global carpet tile manufacturer Interface, Inc. and conservation charity the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) are celebrating the successful completion of a pilot project and the start of a commercial venture with both conservation and socio-economic benefits. The innovative collaboration, called Net-Works, has been created to tackle the growing environmental problem of discarded fishing nets in some of the world’s poorest coastal communities.By establishing a community-based supply chain for discarded nets, Net-Works aims to improve the livelihood of local fishers, while providing Interface with an innovative source of recycled materials for its carpet tiles. Discarded nets on the beaches...

INTERNATIONAL REPORT—WHOLE WORLD Water, a new social enterprise set to launch on World Water Day, March 22, 2013, announced today its sustainable business model that partners with the hospitality and tourism industry to collectively address one of the world’s most pressing issues—access to safe and clean water.Leveraging the potential of the hospitality and tourism industry to spur global change, the model encourages spas, hotels, resorts and restaurants to filter, bottle and sell their own water, and contribute 10 percent of the proceeds to the WHOLE WORLD Water Fund; a fund benefiting clean and safe water programs around the world....

KELOWNA, B.C.—The Best Western Plus Kelowna Hotel & Suites continues to charge forward with environmentally responsible initiatives. Not only has the hotel installed an electric vehicle charging station, they have just received LEED Silver Certification for their new environmental wing through the Canada Green Building Council (CaGBC).LEED, or Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, is a third-party certification program that rates buildings to the highest environmental performance standards in Canada. “This was quite the process,” says Brenda Rayburn, director of sales and marketing for the Best Western Plus Kelowna Hotel & Suites. “However, for me, the length of time...

CLEVELAND, OHIO—Hasek Communications, the Cleveland, Ohio-based publisher of Green Lodging News, welcomes Focused Sustainability Consulting Group, LLC as a Green Product & Service Directory partner. Focused Sustainability Consulting Group offers the Big Hanna brand of in-vessel composters. By composting on-site with a Big Hanna Composter, one can reduce one’s carbon footprint while closing the loop on organic waste. On-site in-vessel composting eliminates the need for transport to landfill, and eliminates methane gas released when organic matter decomposes in landfills. Composter users get about 10 percent back in the form of finished/mature ready to use compost—not a digestate that needs...

PORT ORFORD, ORE.—“It feels like you are on another planet.” That is how Michelle Duarte describes the WildSpring Guest Habitat that she and her husband own along the coast of Oregon in Port Orford. Their small, eco-friendly resort sits on five acres of 100-foot trees and includes five cabins. “The cabins are built like small homes,” Duarte says. “They are not rustic.”Just about everything possible was done to minimize the environmental footprint of the five cabin suites. Duarte’s husband, Dean, who once worked on Hollywood sets in construction, played an integral part in the building of the cabins. Only...

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Interest in the EPA’s Food Recovery Challenge, part of its Sustainable Materials Management Program, is picking up with the addition of participants including hotels, resorts, convention centers, entertainment venues, and other facilities. Organizations joining the program must commit to at least a 5 percent increase in at least one of the three food diversion categories: prevention, donation or composting. Or alternatively, they can commit to a combined 5 percent increase across all three food waste diversion categories. If a participant does not have food diversion data, the EPA says it will assist the organization in developing a program...