Marriott's expanding green programs flourish

Last week, Marriott invited its hotel guests to "green" their hotel stays by buying carbon offsets to protect rainforests in the Juma reserve in the state of Amazonas in Brazil. Marriott, in cooperation with nonprofit Conservation international, had previously agreed to donate $2 million to rainforest preservation in Amazonas. Protecting rainforests, as you probably know, is an important way to mitigate the threat of climate change because tropical forests remove lots of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

Marriott's initiative is noteworthy for several reasons. First, it's part of a broad green push by the company. Second, it's a great way to expose millions of people to the role of rainforests in preventing climate change. Third, the company says that its efforts will help attract so-called "green" meetings.

As part of its overall environmental commitment, called Spirit to Preserve, Marriott has agreed to reduce its fuel and water consumption by 25 percent per room over the next 10 years, install solar power in as many as 40 hotels by 2017 and expand reuse and recycling programs. They are also greening their supply chain by buying key cards made of 50 percent recycled plastic, replacing more than 100,000 pillows with new ones made from recycled bottles, eliminating cardboard from more than 2 million rolls of toilet paper a year, and buying Bic pens made with recycled material. The company is also ramping up its development of LEED-certified hotels.

The new "green your stay" program invites guests who book on www.marriott.com to offset the carbon generated during their stay for as little as US $10, or US $1 per day for 10 days. The cost to offset the carbon generated in a single night in a hotel is about $1, Matthews explains, but the $10 minimum contribution helps insure that the vast majority of the funds donated will go to rainforest preservation, rather than to administrative costs.

This program expands a relationship between Marriott and a nonprofit called the Amazonas Sustainable Foundation, which supports about 2,500 residents of the Juma area who help protect the forest from illegal logging and farming. Contributions help fund people and equipment to monitor the forest, as well as other community services, designed to provide an alternative livelihood for the Brazilian poor.

For More Information on Green Hotels, Go To Greenlodge.Org

Downtown Atlanta businesses launch Zero Waste Zone

Downtown Atlanta hotels and restaurants are going green.

The Georgia World Congress Center (GWCC) and several downtown convention hotels and restaurants have partnered with the federal government and environmental groups to form the Southeast’s first Zero Waste Zone to reduce the flow of garbage into landfills.

The initiative was launched Tuesday during the 1,700-member Meeting Planners International convention.

GWCC -- the nation’s fourth-largest convention center -- Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse and the Hyatt Regency Atlanta are among the downtown institutions that have pledged to up their recycling efforts, including sending used grease to local biofuel producers. Other downtown restaurants and hotels have promised to donate food to the Atlanta Community Food Bank or to send residuals to composting centers.

Levy Restaurants, the food contractor at the GWCC, has partnered with Washington, D.C.-based EnviRelations, LLC to compost food wastes, which will save 34 tons of organic materials each month from entering area landfills, according to a news release.

“We are amazed at the enthusiasm shown in support of the Zero Waste Zone,” Laura Turner Seydel, honorary chairwoman of the Zero Waste Zone-Downtown Atlanta, said in prepared remarks. “The composting program is incredibly innovative since there was not a permitted composting facility in Georgia until four months ago.”

According to the news release, Georgians send more than 17 million tons of garbage to landfills each year. The amount per person is double the national average.

The Green Foodservice Alliance and Atlanta Recycles started the initiative. The groups plan to expand the initiative throughout the downtown convention district, and ultimately to other areas of the city, such as Buckhead and Midtown.

“The companies participating in Atlanta’s downtown Zero Waste Zone, the first in the Southeast and one of just a handful across the nation, will recover materials that would ordinarily be sent to a landfill and instead put them to good use,” said Stan Meiburg, EPA Region 4 Acting Regional Administrator. “Eliminating waste is important and EPA applauds the Green Foodservice Alliance, the Georgia Restaurant Association and Atlanta Recycles for working with downtown businesses to rethink their foodservice operations with reuse and recycling in mind.