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...

WASHINGTON, D.C.—The American Hotel & Lodging Association (AH&LA) has joined forces with Clean the World Foundation, Inc., a nonprofit organization that collects and recycles used soap and bottled amenities from hotels, to offer AH&LA members an exclusive additional 5 percent discount per room.More than 1,700 hotels across North America currently participate in the program. Since 2009, Clean the World has distributed more than 12 million bars of soap to homeless shelters and in countries suffering from high death rates due to acute respiratory infection and diarrheal disease, the top killers of children under the age of five.Properties that participate...

TRAVELERS REST, S.C.—T&S Brass and Bronze Works, a worldwide manufacturer and supplier of plumbing and foodservice equipment, has acquired Chicago-based food waste elimination company EnviroPure Systems, Inc., a leading-edge developer of alternative environmentally-friendly technologies for organic food waste disposal. The deal underscores T&S’s commitment to helping foodservice professionals find more sustainable and cost-effective solutions.EnviroPure’s unique processing techniques for dealing with organic food waste can save customers more than 50 percent in traditional operating costs while minimizing negative environmental impact.According to the Environmental Protection Agency, food remnants are, by weight, the single-largest waste stream component of the waste stream in...

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...