CLEVELAND, OHIO—Hasek Communications, the Cleveland, Ohio-based publisher of Green Lodging News, welcomes Dispenser Amenities Inc. as a Green Product Directory partner. “Dispenser Amenities’ mission is to provide environmentally smart dispensing of bath and shower liquids in hotel rooms, clubs and spas,” says Warren Hodgson, international sales manager for Dispenser Amenities. “Instead of individual-use bottles that become waste, we dispense superior quality natural liquids through attractive, cost-effective dispensers that are available in designs, sizes and finishes to suit any property.” Go to Dispenser Amenities or call 800-639-4756 for more information.

CARTERSVILLE, GA.—Shaw Contract Group recently introduced EcoWorx Performance Broadloom, the commercial carpet industry’s first fully sustainable, cradle to cradle carpet backing for broadloom carpet products. With broadloom carpet comprising approximately 70 percent of the entire commercial floor covering market, the introduction of EcoWorx Performance Broadloom will play a significant role in reducing the amount of carpet sent to landfills after its useful life, and marks another significant step in Shaw Industries’ ongoing, comprehensive commitment to providing cradle to cradle product and process solutions for its customers. Built on the success of EcoWorx—the carpet industry’s first fully sustainable,...

WINTER PARK, COLO.—Winter Park Resort is stepping up its efforts to ensure good stewardship of natural resources through its new environmental initiative, Connexion. The Connexion program’s goal is to inform, involve and educate resort employees, guests and the community about the environment. Connexion includes energy reduction efforts with the purchase of sustainable wind energy credits, the utilization of single-use items made from renewable resources in the resort’s on-mountain restaurants, and an expanded recycling program. The new Eagle Wind chairlift is the latest beneficiary of wind energy, continuing Winter Park’s commitment to power all future lifts with renewable energy....

NATIONAL REPORT—Flat screen TVs are creating quite a dilemma for the lodging industry. Most hotels today have armoires but the new TVs will not fit. One chain is trying to figure out what to do with its 400,000 armoires. Do you throw them away? Give them away? Recycle them? If Mario Insenga, principal with The ReFinishing Touch had his way, every one of those armoires would be refinished. Insenga’s Alpharetta, Ga.-based company has devised a method to convert armoires to useable pieces of furniture. In short, what The Refinishing Touch does is remove the top of the armoire and refinish...

ROUND ROCK, TEXAS—Dell has launched free recycling in several additional markets worldwide, meeting a timetable set in June to provide free recycling of any Dell-branded product for consumers worldwide as part of its global recycling policy. Dell is the first and only computer manufacturer to offer such a program. This recycling offer is designed for consumers and includes responsible recycling of used Dell-branded computers and peripheral equipment at no cost. The service does not require a replacement purchase. Details are available at www.dell.com/recycling. Dell recently expanded recycling services into several markets to meet its goal, including Brazil,...

MADISON, WISC.—Upon entering the Arbor House—an Environmental Inn, you may want to watch where you step. The door mat is made from recycled truck tires. That is just one of the many ways the eight-room inn lives up to its name. Many of the items found in this historic Madison property were added or kept with the environment in mind. “Arbor House’s mission is to provide the art of hospitality within a model for urban ecology,” the inn’s website says. “Our goal is the wise use of resources and providing guests with an unparalleled combination of natural design, features, fabrics,...

Building managers find that effective recycling programs reduce waste management costs. Strong recycling programs also advance sustainability by reducing the need for new resources and the environmental impacts of landfills. Recycling turns the ‘waste’ stream into a resource stream than can be mined for materials. Recycling services, the prices paid for recycled materials, and the demand for recycled materials are growing. Facility managers can take advantage of the continually evolving recycling market by reducing waste disposal costs through recycling and by getting paid for recyclable materials. There are widespread recycling markets for paper, cardboard materials, HDPE and PET plastics, aluminum and...

LEAVENWORTH, WASH.—Sleeping Lady Mountain Retreat was recently presented with the 2006 Governor’s Award for Pollution Prevention and Sustainable Practices. Governor Christine Gregoire recently presented the award to Sleeping Lady, along with four other businesses and a not-for-profit group, in Olympia. The 2006 award marks the second Governor’s Award for Sleeping Lady, with their first win in 2001. This year’s honor was the Continuing Excellence award, which recognizes the retreat’s continued commitment to the high standards that garnered it the award five years ago. “We are obviously honored, and are grateful that this award exists, to help get the word out about...

PRESIDIO, TEXAS—Recycling is becoming a way of life in the border communities near Big Bend National Park thanks to the generosity of Forever Resorts. Extending their environmental ethic and friendship across the border of Texas to Mexico, Forever Resorts’ Big Bend Resorts, the concessioner in Big Bend National Park, in partnership with J.V. Manufacturing of Arkansas, recently presented a recycling baler to the community of Ojinaga, Mexico. C. Ing. Jorge Jesus Montoya, Presidente Municipal of the city of Ojinaga along with Ing. Ma. Isisdro Olivas, Eduardo Castillo and students from the Cetis 98 School accepted the generous gesture...

SOMERSET, N.J.—Philips Lighting Co., the U.S.-based lighting company affiliated with Royal Philips Electronics, was recognized by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as the first company in the United States to launch a companywide effort towards meeting the EPA’s National Partnership for Environmental Priorities (NPEP) waste minimization standards. As a new partner in the national program, Philips Lighting has committed to reducing the amount of mercury used in the manufacturing of its fluorescent lamps by 780 pounds by the end of 2007. In addition, the company has committed to eliminating the amount of lead in all of its...