SINGAPORE—Greenview has released its 106-page Green Lodging Trends Report 2018. The Report is the lodging industry’s annual exercise to assess and catalyze green innovation, best practices, and awareness regarding the state of sustainability across hotels worldwide. The Report highlights and summarizes responses to 115 survey questions in these categories: Energy Management, Waste Management, Water Conservation, Health & Wellness, Back of House, Communications, Staff Involvement, Community Involvement, and Climate Action & Certification. Greenview received data for 4,544 hotels across 61 countries. Of the overall data set, 2,202 properties were classified as City/Urban Hotels, 814 as Suburban Hotels, 607 as Resorts, 296...

ODESSA, FLA.—Green Lodging News welcomes Sharc Energy Systems to its Green Product & Service Directory in the Waste Heat Recovery/Recycling category. Every day, a tremendous amount of warm water is used once before ultimately being discarded down the drain. Wastewater provides the ultimate renewable energy source, with an inexhaustible supply of thermal energy. SHARC Energy Systems, the world’s largest waste heat recovery company, offers two innovative products that use wastewater as an energy source. The SHARC and PIRANHA reuse thermal energy in wastewater to provide cost-effective and environmentally clean domestic hot water pre-heating and space heating and air conditioning....

CINCINNATI—Cintas Corp. announced its collaboration with JW Marriott, part of Marriott International, Inc., which will debut a new collection of wardrobe essentials across 51 of the brand’s hotels worldwide. In addition to the new collection launch, JW Marriott properties in the United States will participate in a unique garment-recycling program managed by Cintas that responsibly reuses the brand’s retired uniform line. “We are excited about the new wardrobe launch as it will give JW Marriott associates the opportunity to mix and match garments that best fit their job function, personality and style preferences,” said Mitzi Gaskins, Vice President and Global Brand...

Name: Wanda Adams Title: Sustainability Manager Locations: Jones Hall, Wortham Center, George R. Brown Convention Center Years in Current Position: Four Primary Responsibilities: “My primary responsibility is to have the excitement of showing up to work every day and documenting my to-do list on things I need to accomplish on that day. My typical day is the normal checking of messages, reading over e-mail, and finishing tasks that were not completed the previous day. Also, looking at the events calendar to see what events are being held that week. I check on what food will be left over from an event. We try...

MACAO—Sands China Ltd. has discontinued its use of plastic straws at all its properties to reduce the consumption of single-use plastics. The company’s ban will eliminate the use of 2.2 million plastic straws each year—saving 1 ton of plastic annually. Laid down end-to-end on the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge, that’s enough straws to stretch from Macao to Hong Kong 10 times. The move is one of several new initiatives to curb the use of single-use plastics at Sands China’s properties, which employ more than 28,000 team members and received more than 92 million visitors in 2017. “Our company is constantly looking for...

ODESSA, FLA.—Green Lodging News has added Quipworks Inc. as a Founding Sponsor. Quipworks is a provider of specialized waste reduction equipment for the restaurant, hospitality, resort, golf course, and light manufacturing industries. Its GLSand is a compact glass bottle crusher that reduces bottles in volume by 10:1 to a safe to handle sand like product. The machine is designed for waste reduction, cost reduction and sustainability. The GLSand will provide a positive impact on a property’s waste reduction goals, and create a usable commodity for landscaping, pavement patching, pool filtration and other uses. The GLSand is quiet and easy...

OVERLAND PARK, KAN.—Bluewater will unveil its Bluewater Pro 400 and Bluewater Spirit model lines at NAFEM in Orlando, Fla., from February 7 to 9, to showcase innovative products and technologies that help foodservice professionals deliver fresh produce, achieve clean glassware and cutlery, and offer great-tasting coffee and other water-based drinks. As a show bringing together over 500 movers-and-shakers from across the foodservice segments, NAFEM is the ideal venue for Bluewater to show the performance of its water purifiers, which remove practically all chemical contaminants, heavy metals, pathogenic bacteria and other impurities impacting food quality from tap water. “This is our first time at...

MUSANDAM, OMAN—Six Senses Zighy Bay is in the kitchen with its sleeves rolled up and intentions set—healthy guts inside and healthy land outside. What’s cooking is always mindfully sourced and deliciously prepared with nothing wasted. Out with the palm oil, processed food and plastic. In with the planet. Guests enjoy delicious menus during their stay and learn simple ways they can adopt healthier habits at home. Eat, Drink and Be Healthy—Eat With Six Senses, the brand’s philosophy and approach to food and drink, is based on guiding principles of local and sustainable sourcing, natural ingredients and a less is more...

Microplastics, commonly found in our oceans, are less than 5 millimeters in length and are a hazard to marine life. Microplastics (and microbeads) have gotten a lot of publicity in recent years but did you know that microsynthetic fibers can be hazardous as well? Microsynthetic fibers are small plastic particles within the category of microplastics that are fibrous in shape. If your laundry is used to wash anything made from synthetic fibers like polyester, you are releasing microfibers down the drain—fibers that can make their way past treatment plants and into the water that animal and sea life consume. If...

This past year there were a lot of announcements in our industry about the elimination of plastic straws. I think it is great that hotel companies are doing this but let’s all agree that it is a pretty simple step that is not going to require too much action or sacrifice. Why not build upon straw elimination and get rid of other nasty items—those made from Styrofoam, for example? Over the Christmas holiday I stayed at a hotel claiming to be “green” but in its breakfast area there were disposable Styrofoam plates and cups. I was not impressed, and I...