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.

First Hyatt-brand LEED-built hotel opens in Michigan

Plans for the 5-story 113-room hotel started a couple of years ago. Built by Rockford Construction, it's a project with a $15M price tag.

The hotel is aimed at business travelers featuring pre-registration, self-serve automated kiosks for check-in and 24 hour food service. But, it also accommodates families, including those who need a place to stay that is close to Metro Health.

Some of the LEED-related features include: in-room motion sensors to control heat and lighting and the use of green cleaning compounds. According to Morgan Burkett, Vice-President of Oxford Development Co., "We're taking all of our leftover shampoo and soap products and we're recyling them onsite into a slurry that we then convert into basically a laundry detergent. So, all of our pool towels, all of our terry towels, kitchen towels will be washed with products from our guest rooms."

The Hyatt Place isn't the first local hotel built to meet LEED certification. The JW Marriott in downtown Grand Rapids and City Flats in Holland were also LEED projects. But the Hyatt Place is the world's first Hyatt-brand LEED-built hotel. The business helped to bring 30 new jobs to the area.

"We had 120 highly qualified applications and it took a lot of processing to get to the top 30," said Burkett. "But it is really a credit to this community. The quality and caliber of staff we were able to procure for this hotel is the best that I've ever seen. I've been in the business for 40 years."

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

Chicago’s Talbot Hotel Receives Green Power Award

On the heels of it being awarded the Green Seal Certification, the Talbot Hotel has been named a member of the 2008 Green Power Leadership Club by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

The 149-room hotel received this EPA award in recognition of its exemplary environmental leadership. The hotel is also being honored for its efforts to operate a 100% carbon neutral property through the purchasing of renewable wind energy credits that offset the hotel’s entire carbon footprint. The hotel not only met the minimum requirements for the EPA’s Green Power Partnership, but reached the 10-fold qualifications of the Green Power Leadership Club.

Talbot Hotel

EPA Green Power Award

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