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News Blog

The News Blog gives Glenn Hasek, publisher and editor of Green Lodging News, an opportunity to comment, in just a few paragraphs, on industry news and trends. A more condensed version of Publisher’s Point of View, the News Blog is updated on either Wednesday or Thursday each week. Want to step in as a guest blogger? Or, have some news to share for the News Blog? To contact Glenn Hasek, call (813) 510-3868, or by e-mail at: greenlodgingnews@gmail.com.

News Blog

Home News Blog
The News Blog gives Glenn Hasek, publisher and editor of Green Lodging News, an opportunity to comment, in just a few paragraphs, on industry news and trends. A more condensed version of Publisher’s Point of View, the News Blog is updated on either Wednesday or Thursday each week. Want to step in as a guest blogger? Or, have some news to share for the News Blog? To contact Glenn Hasek, call (813) 510-3868, or by e-mail at: greenlodgingnews@gmail.com.

Can You Spare a Square? How to Save Tissue & Money

I have written about toilet paper before. Typically, the focus has been on what the toilet paper is made from. But the shape? Turns out the “shape,” or portion I should say, and how it is dispensed, makes a real difference. I came across a company called Fox Fold that sells sustainable tissue solutions for hotels—toilet paper and facial tissue dispensers that they say lower costs and reduce waste. The company sells the dispenser and the paper. According to Fox Fold, hotels throw out millions of unfinished toilet paper rolls and facial tissue boxes each year. With their folded paper system,...

Choice Hotels Agrees to Measure, Reduce Single-Use Plastic

According to a press release from Green Century, Choice Hotels International, one of the world’s leading lodging franchisors, has agreed to take the first step in addressing plastic pollution by conducting a program to measure single-use plastic and develop strategies for single-use plastic reduction after engagement by Green Century. For those of you not familiar with Green Century, it provides “mutual funds for individuals and institutions to keep their money out of the most irresponsible industries while using Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) criteria in investment analysis and portfolio construction.” Choice Hotels, which has a diverse portfolio of 22 brands including...

Zero-to-Landfill Wyboston Lakes Resort Adding on to Sizeable Solar Installation

Most of you have probably never heard of Wyboston Lakes Resort. The resort is in the East of England and sits on 380 acres. The resort describes itself as “Northern Europe’s largest independently owned business and leisure destination.” It has an ambitious sustainability program. Wyboston Lakes Resort just announced that it has implemented phase one of its Green Energy Roadmap and embarked on phase two of its path towards self-sufficiency in green energy. A total of 356KWh of solar panels and a 200KWh storage battery installed at The Willows Training Centre are already helping to make the Centre more self-sufficient in...

New Jersey Bill Could Eliminate Smoking in Atlantic City Casinos

A measure that would prohibit smoking in Atlantic City’s casinos—Bill A2143—moved forward late last month. The New Jersey Senate health committee approved a long-delayed bill to impose the smoking ban. The approval is the first step in several necessary approvals. While some business leaders and casino workers expressed disapproval of the ban, many casino workers were elated. Casinos were specifically exempted from New Jersey’s 2006 law that banned smoking in virtually all other workplaces. Smoking is currently permitted on 25 percent of the casino floors in Atlantic City. While smoking areas are set aside for smokers, the smoke drifts into most...

Upcoming AHLA Summit to Focus on Responsible Stay Initiative

In just two weeks I will be attending the AHLA Responsible Stay Summit in Washington, D.C. Be sure to watch for coverage on Green Lodging News. I have yet to see the agenda for the event, but it will, in AHLA’s words, convene “hotel industry leaders and sustainability experts in a dialogue around what’s next in the landscape of sustainability and the industry’s journey. Through subject matter experts and insightful presentations, we’ll work to advance sustainability discussions around energy efficiency, water conservation, waste reduction, and responsible sourcing.” I am looking forward to the event at the Four Seasons Hotel. The event...

More Details on the Running Rock Eco Resort

Green Lodging News recently ran a press release announcing the progress of Running Rock Eco Resort, now under construction on a 260-acre property overlooking the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. What jumped out at me about the release is the property’s size, the developer’s intent on making it a net zero resort, and the commitment to leave at least 85 percent of the resort as green space. I recently chatted with Jake Comstock, one of the owners of the resort, to get more details on the project. He told me it will be located about eight miles from downtown Gatlinburg....

Dooms Day Clock: Another Reminder to Prioritize Energy Efficiency

Founded in 1945 by Albert Einstein, J. Robert Oppenheimer, and University of Chicago scientists who helped develop the first atomic weapons in the Manhattan Project, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists created the Doomsday Clock two years later, using the imagery of apocalypse (midnight) and the contemporary idiom of nuclear explosion (countdown to zero) to convey threats to humanity and the planet. The Doomsday Clock is set every year by the Bulletin’s Science and Security Board in consultation with its Board of Sponsors, which includes nine Nobel laureates. The Clock has become a universally recognized indicator of the world’s vulnerability...

USGBC Announces Top 10 U.S. States for Green Building in 2023

Yesterday, the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), the leading authority on green building and the global developer of the LEED green building program, released its annual list of Top 10 States for LEED. For the first time ever, New York ranked number one, based on LEED-certified gross square footage per capita over the past year, leading the country in green building. New York totaled 201 newly LEED-certified projects in 2023 that encompassed more than 93 million square feet, equating to nearly 4.6 LEED-certified square feet per resident. Following behind was Illinois (3.213 square feet per capita), Massachusetts (3.210 square feet per...

Alternatives to the Bathroom Towel Provide Lots of Savings

Cutting down on laundry volume has been the focus of our industry for decades now with the now standard towel/linen replacement opt-out programs. Only recently, however, has there been chatter about eliminating some towels entirely. In the past year I have run across several suppliers that are aiming to do just that. At this past fall’s Boutique Design New York, Magic Stone introduced its antibacterial bathmat made from natural stone that goes from wet to dry in seconds. According to the company, it can reduce annual expenditure on traditional floor towel bathmats by over 80 percent annually. The bathmats can...

Research Finds Much More Nanoplastics in Plastic Bottled Water Than Previously Thought

“Rapid single-particle chemical imaging of nanoplastics by SRS microscopy.” Sounds very complicated but that is the name of a new article published by the National Academy of Science. It details the results of a study of the amount of nanoplastics—particles of plastic—in bottled water. Yes, the bottled water you drink and make available to your guests. The study found that the concentration of nanoplastics in bottled water is “orders of magnitude more than the microplastic abundance reported previously in bottled water.” “We estimate that the exposure to the micro-nano plastics from regular bottled water was at the level of 105 particles...