Tag: Human Health

Emerging Wellness Trends Advance Green Hospitality

Posted on by Doug Gatlin

What’s that smell? Deodorizer? Bleach? When you enter your hotel room for the night, you shouldn’t have to worry that the air you breathe will provoke headaches, allergies, or asthma. That’s the mindset of a growing generation of consumers who view sustainability as inextricably linked to human health – and who support hotels that do the same.

“It’s a generational shift, in my opinion,” said Glenn Hasek, publisher and editor of Green Lodging News. “Gone are the days when you had travelers who grew up smoking cigarettes and breathing smog in dirty cities. Travelers are increasingly interested in experiencing a healthy stay and being offered health and wellness options, from spa experiences at high-end hotels to something as simple as a bike sharing program that offers the opportunity to see the city on wheels instead of with a carbon-emitting vehicle.”

For the lodging industry, this shift means guests increasingly treat travel as a chance to demonstrate their commitment to health and sustainability, rather than escape from it. Figures from the Global Wellness Institute show wellness tourism growing twice as fast as tourism overall, reaching a $639 billion market in 2017. And contrary to popular belief, relatively few wellness trips are to destination spas or meditation retreats. Nearly 90 percent are regular leisure or business trips where travelers choose to participate in wellness experiences.

“Having green-friendly practices and wellness services and amenities are no longer a ‘nice to have,’ they are an expectation, particularly from the luxury traveler,” said Dant Hirsh, general manager of the Dominick Hotel, an independent luxury hotel located in New York City’s SoHo neighborhood. The company underscored its commitment to health and sustainability by earning a Green Seal Bronze certification in 2018, meeting rigorous benchmarks in areas including minimizing waste, preventing pollution, conserving energy, managing water resources and purchasing greener products. For wellness travelers, the Dominick offers partnerships with several local fitness boutiques and an on-site fitness center with Peloton bikes, and it is revamping its spa with updated suites and custom amenities that appeal to the fitness and wellness traveler.

However, hotels don’t need to offer expensive spa services to facilitate wellness for their guests, Hasek said. Simple steps like providing maps of local trails and eco-conscious soaps and amenities also contribute to a healthier stay.

Several health-related features already are mainstream at hotels worldwide. According to Greenview’s 2018 Green Lodging Trends Report, the majority of hotels now use low-VOC or VOC-free paints in renovations and additions, provide eco-conscious amenities for guests, and conduct annual carbon monoxide and radon testing. A growing number of hotels also are evaluating suppliers in human rights areas, providing portable air purifiers, and designating more than 90% of guestrooms as non-smoking.

Hasek said hotels increasingly are embedding health and wellness programs in their overall sustainability strategies, as they go hand in hand with initiatives already underway on the properties. At the Dominick Hotel, for example, equipping rooms with iPads cuts down on paper use and also allows the company to offer guests custom digital workouts.

The most successful health and sustainability programs often have staff-wide buy-in, and hotels that involve associates in their green and wellness initiatives report positive culture shifts and happier employees. At the Westin Bonaventure Hotel and Suites, a Green Seal Silver certified property in Los Angeles, associates formed a “green team” comprising representatives from each department who champion specific sustainability initiatives. Some were so inspired by the mission that they began implementing the practices at home as well, said Claudia Lambaren, the hotel’s senior sales and marketing coordinator.

Today, Westin Bonaventure associates are integral to projects including targeting zero-waste in the cafeteria, implementing a water reclamation system in the laundry facility, installing trash sorting and recycling bins throughout the property, purchasing from sustainable local vendors, recycling unused amenities through the Clean the World program, and offering business customers Westin Clutter-Free Meetings with socially conscious amenities and green features including energy efficient light bulbs, double-sided meeting pads and water pitchers instead of bottled water.

Hotel executives stress that their sustainability and wellness programs reach both to the front and the back of the house. At the Dominick, employees enjoy discounts with neighborhood fitness partners and healthy meal options at the staff cafeteria. “The employees are the heart of the house, so we strive to ensure that any benefit we launch at the hotel benefits both guests and associates.”

The Sofitel Los Angeles at Beverly Hills, a Green Seal Silver certified hotel, offers a wellness food section in their cafeteria and a free charging station for employees who drive electric vehicles. The hotel also hosts awareness campaigns employees to participate in throughout the year and celebrates Earth Hour, Earth Day, World Food Day and other national days.

“We emphasize the fact that our daily gestures have a real impact on our community, and that going green also involves a social responsibility,” said Cecile Sandral-Lasbordes, the hotel’s marketing and public relations manager. The hotel’s “green team” is dedicated to using sustainable, recyclable, energy efficient and non-toxic items throughout every aspect of the hotel’s day-to-day operations, and ensures a minimum of 50 percent of the hotel’s food purchases are from local or regional vendors. The hotel also implements a WATCH program that trains employees to recognize signs of child sexual exploitation and coordinate with local partners and law enforcement to respond.

With their Green Seal certifications, all of the hotels committed to using cleaning products that are free of harmful chemicals that can exacerbate asthma and other health conditions, a measure that is especially beneficial to cleaning associates. In fact, employers that prioritize employee health often find they are rewarded with more productive associates who take fewer sick days and cost less to insure.

“Healthier employees cost less in the long run,” said Hasek. He pointed to the innovate, self-insured employee healthcare model developed by Rosen Hotels & Resorts in Florida. The company’s health offering includes its own medical center for employees and their dependents, same-day appointments, low premiums and a strong focus on preventative health and wellness (a mandatory stretching program for housekeeping staff and other employees prone to musculoskeletal problems reduced injuries by 25 percent). The plan has already saved the company $340 million and contributed to a low annual employee turnover rate of less than 15 percent, compared to the industry-wide average of 60 percent.

Hotels are also seeing sales and marketing benefits from their health and sustainability investments as both leisure and business guests make green a requirement. “Questions regarding our green practices and wellness benefits are standard from decision-makers at companies that are looking to hold a group program here or assign a corporate account,” said the Dominick Hotel. “Having a strong stake in these initiatives gives us a competitive advantage.”

At the Westin Bonaventure, Lambaren said many of the hotel’s customers include green recycling requirements in their proposal requests. “We have seen an increase with requests for information, and we have had several groups stay with us because of our green efforts,” she said.

At the Sofitel Los Angeles at Beverly Hills, the hotel’s green and wellness standards align the property with the meetings criteria of prime businesses, Sandral-Lasbordes said. “Big corporations and technology pioneers like Google or Microsoft have substantial environmental charters in place and want their partners to be the same.”

But the ultimate business benefit of the hotel’s health and sustainability initiatives, says Sandral-Lasbordes, is the engagement of employees. “The excitement and satisfaction they portray when helping the community and the planet is beyond rewarding.”

Editors Note: This article was reprinted with permission from the Hotel Business

Harsh Cleaning Chemicals Have No Place in Our Schools

Posted on by Green Seal

Many Americans are familiar with “Code Orange” days, when the air outside is so dangerous that school officials keep kids indoors. But what if the air quality inside our schools is just as much of a concern? That’s the case in half of our nation’s schools where the EPA found poor indoor air quality is putting children’s developing bodies at risk every school day. Poor indoor air quality is linked to asthma, concentration problems, and even poor test results. Unhealthy indoor air stems from a number of maintenance and design issues, but the good news is that one of the major contributors is also the easiest to address: the toxic chemicals in conventional cleaning products. Ironically, schools that are trying to protect the comfort and health of children and staff with regular classroom and facility cleaning are inadvertently doing more harm than good. That’s because even when they’re advertised as “green” or “natural,” cleaning products can contain a toxic stew of chemicals and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) that are linked to asthma, allergies, cancer, and harm to our reproductive and nervous systems.

Peer-reviewed studies have found that children who are frequently exposed to conventional cleaning products suffer higher rates of wheezing and asthma. With asthma forcing children to miss 14 million school days each year, asthma-attack-inducing chemicals have no place in our schools. Long-term research also shows that adults who clean their homes with conventional cleaning products cause as much damage to their lungs as if they smoked a pack of cigarettes a day. We would never tolerate classrooms filled with cigarette smoke – so why tolerate classrooms sprayed with hazardous chemicals? Schools should provide safer environments for our children and protect their health. For decades, Green Seal has been a vital resource for school districts, colleges, and universities across the country, helping to transform campuses into cleaner, healthier places to live, learn, and play. Nearly half of U.S. states and thousands of schools and healthcare facilities specify Green Seal as a trusted name that defines healthier products. Custodial teams know that Green Seal certified products deliver the same effectiveness as conventional ones – from cleaning products to paints, coatings, and construction materials.

Now, our Healthy Green Schools initiative is helping schools like Harvard University and Howard County Public Schools demonstrate that they are providing the healthiest indoor air quality for their students and staff. These schools and programs are achieving Green Seal certification for their cleaning programs to prove that they meet the highest standards of health and sustainability in the US. By meeting each and every requirement in Green Seal’s GS-42 Standard for Commercial and Institutional Cleaning Services, school cleaning teams are demonstrating leadership in key areas: green purchasing, green cleaning procedures, undergoing vital trainings, properly maintaining equipment, and helping our towns and cities reduce their environmental footprint through waste minimization practices. Every child has a right to learn in a place where they can thrive, and that means schools with safe, clean air to breathe. On Healthy Schools Day, school leaders can take the first step by making a district-wide commitment to purchase only certified green cleaning products and to provide Healthy Green Schools for all children.

HSC Report: How Schools are Keeping Kids Healthier, Safer

Posted on by Doug Gatlin

A new report out this week from the Healthy Schools Campaign shows that a growing number of school officials across the country are choosing environmentally certified cleaning products. This is great news, because as the Healthy Schools Campaign CEO, Rochelle Davis, points out, “We know that how schools approach cleaning says a lot about how they value their students, staff, and the communities where they are located.”

We at Green Seal couldn’t agree more. Environmentally certified products keep kids safer and healthier. It is why we dedicate so much time and attention to developing the most rigorous testing for cleaning products and services, and Green Seal is proud to be the leading environmental certification of cleaning products and services in schools.

According to the 2018 National Education Facilities Cleaning Survey, Green Seal was identified as the top third-party certifier for green cleaning products. The report shone a spotlight on Maryland’s Howard County Public School System (HCPSS), which went above and beyond to create a world-class building environment that puts health first. HCPSS decided to get Green Seal (GS-42) certified to make sure that they achieve their mission of making their schools a healthy place to work and learn. To receive this certification from Green Seal, they implemented their own rigorous rating system that monitors the health and cleanliness of each building in the district. They also made sure all of HCPSS’ equipment, cleaning tools, standard operating procedures and staff training complied with each requirement in the Cleaning Service Standard. It’s no coincidence that a school system where cleaning is seen as a health priority rather than just as a housekeeping duty, Green Seal is the certification of choice.

Green cleaning isn’t just an environmental issue. It’s a public health issue. And where our children are concerned, that can’t be said enough. Moving forward, I hope more businesses and public sector leaders see the necessity for Green Seal certifying more schools and spaces for children, families, staff, and the community. We’ve always been honored to play a role in keeping schools healthy, safe and clean for children. This study just proves it.

Update: TCSA (Toxic Substances Control Act) Amendment

Posted on by Green Seal

Recently, Green Seal’s standards development team attended a conference on the Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act, which celebrated its 1-year anniversary. We greatly enjoyed the candid conversations between the heavy hitters: government officials, members of Congress, representatives from industry, and environmental advocates.

The bill was signed into law on June 22, 2016 by President Obama, and was widely proclaimed a success. Soon after the signing, the usual political chatter began: cheers (a rare show of bipartisanship!), grumbles (the law was decades overdue), jitters (could the EPA handle the ambitious time lines?), shrugs and yawns (too many compromises). We, in Green Seal’s Washington, DC’s headquarters, sometimes enjoy the political opera, especially since we remain happily seated in the mezzanine. I, and my friends in the DC environmental community, were heartened by the news: the EPA now had greater authority, strict time lines for progress, and dependable funding sources for implementing effective chemical regulation.

Chemical Safety, The Previous Version

The law is an update and expansion of the 1976 Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) (“Ta-Ska”), which defined the federal regulation of chemicals. Unlike the other major environmental legislation of the 1960s and 70s (The Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, CERCLA, RCRA, etc.) which responded to pollution and hazardous chemical releases after the fact, TSCA was intended to prevent hazardous chemicals from entering the market. The EPA was authorized and required to track chemicals that were being manufactured or processed, to evaluate new chemicals for health and environmental impacts, and to regulate (restrict, ban or in some way control) those chemicals that were identified as hazardous. TSCA implementation was slow and often ineffective because of legal loopholes, an overworked and underfunded agency, and general disinterest among members of Congress. Pushed to fill what they saw as a public health protections gap, state health departments and legislative bodies established state-wide chemical regulation programs, which sometimes caused confusion and frustration for product companies and chemical suppliers. With a goal of simplifying and re-nationalizing US chemical regulation, TSCA reform became a priority for businesses and chemical manufacturers. From 2009 to 2016, members of Congress, environmental advocates, and industry groups worked on the reform bill, and ultimately passed the Lautenberg Act in the House of Representatives with a vote of 403 to 12, and passed the Act in the Senate with a voice vote.

About the Lautenberg Act (TSCA Amendment)

  • The EPA no longer needs to identify a regulatory action that is “least burdensome” to industry when carrying out a chemical ban, restriction, or exposure reduction measure.
  • The EPA is no longer required to conduct a cost-benefit analysis along with its chemical assessments, and is, in fact, prohibited from factoring in the financial impacts of a regulatory action.
  • The Act requires the EPA to protect vulnerable populations: “”the health of children, pregnant women, the elderly, workers, consumers, the general public, and the environmental from the risk of harmful exposures to chemical substances and mixtures.” One year in, the EPA has made real progress.
  • June 22, 2017: The EPA issued Final TSCA Framework Rules (National Law Review)
  • Announced the scopes of the risk evaluations for the first ten chemicals (EPA)
  • Dozens of new chemical determinations were completed in June 2017 and nearly 1,000 new chemical determinations were completed from June 2016 to June 2017 (EPA – Actively updating the number of completed determinations).

Green Seal’s Chemical Considerations

The ongoing implementation of the Lautenberg Act has had no direct effect on Green Seal, our standard development, or our product evaluation processes. In their chemical assessment process, the EPA is identifying and regulating the most harmful chemicals; Green Seal is defining and validating the qualities of environmental leadership products – that they are formulated with safer chemicals, perform effectively, and have an overall lower environmental and health impact. However, TSCA Reform may eventually lead to a change in Green Seal’s standards. If the floor for chemical safety rises in the US market, we may see a significant shift in the formulations of all products, and further improvements to leadership products. If this shift takes place, Green Seal will update our standards in order to accurately reflect the new levels of leadership.

A Different Level of Scrutiny: While the EPA conducts risk analyses, Green Seal emphasizes chemical hazards. One of our major goals of product certification is to encourage the elimination of hazardous chemicals on the US market.

Identifying New Chemicals of Concern: In our product reviews, Green Seal ensures that products are not formulated with persistent / bioaccumulative / toxic substances (“PBTs”) and one way that we accomplish this is by noting the chemicals of concern that are listed in the EPA’s Toxics Release Inventory. As the EPA gathers and reports the results of toxicological evaluations, new PBTs may be identified, which would better inform our evaluation.

A Clearer Evaluation Process for Companies: Companies with Green Seal-certified products will benefit from a clear and consistent framework for the evaluation of chemical substance and the associated risks, and from the new data that will result from the evaluation process. (Looking through rose-colored beakers…) Perhaps TSCA Reform will also spur green chemistry innovations, increasing the numbers of safer substitutes, and simplifying the process of developing safer formulations.

To learn more about TSCA Reform, the Lautenberg Act, and EPA’s progress since June 2016, check out the following links:

Study Quantifies GHG Reductions of Certified Hotels

Posted on by Green Seal

In a market full of different certifiers, it is important for hotels to distinguish between a green-washed standard and one with real environmental benefits.

Green Seal recently collaborated with the Bren School of Environmental Sciences and Management at the University of California, Santa Barbara, on a year-long study to quantify the environmental benefits (in terms of greenhouse gas [GHG] reductions) for hotels in the City of Los Angeles that are certified under Green Seal’s hotel standard (GS-33).

Let’s go back a few years to get the full picture…. in 2008, the City of Los Angeles recognized the role hotels can play in reducing the city’s overall GHG emissions, and created the Los Angeles Green Lodging Program (LAGLP) to meet its Climate Action Plan goals.  Green Seal was selected as the official certifier for the LAGLP, which now has 7 certified participating hotels including: JW Marriott Los Angeles LIVE, Hilton Universal City, Hilton Los Angeles Airport, Sheraton Gateway, Crowne Plaza, Westin Bonaventure, and Westin Los Angeles Airport. Los Angeles now has more Green Seal-certified hotels than any city in the nation (over 6 million square feet certified), with a number of additional hotels in the process of getting certified.  Until the recent Bren Study, however, neither the City nor Green Seal had a quantitative metric of the environmental benefits of the LAGLP.

The Bren team used electricity consumption data from 6 certified hotels in Los Angeles, and found that on average:

  • entering at Bronze level saw 2.8% reduction in GHG emissions,
  • those progressing to Silver saw an added reduction of 8.8% (hotels entering directly at Silver would see a 2.8% + 8.8% = 11.6% reduction)
  • those progressing to Gold saw a further reduction of 18.2% (hotels entering directly at Gold would see a 11.6% + 18.2% = 29.8% reduction)

The Bren team took this study one step further to see how Green Seal certification benefits a hotel itself. They conducted surveys of over 1000 participants and found that consumers were willing to pay $6.50 more per night for hotels with demonstrated sustainability measures.

A case study by the Bren team showed that meeting the most basic requirement in the GS-33 standard of upgrading lighting (mandated by the Bronze level), can reduce a hotel’s emissions by a total of 1,066 MT CO2 annually, which is equivalent to emissions from 225 passenger vehicles driven for a year. Furthermore, these replacements reaped financial benefits as well: over a 20-year project cash flow period, the hotel would see $1,562,157 in cumulative savings from avoided utility costs.  Hotels can target lighting upgrades as “low-hanging fruit” thatyield higher benefits than costs. 

Green Seal avoiding C02

Finally, the Bren team also created a user-friendly Excel-based tool that can be used by an individual hotel to calculate its GHG reductions and financial savings from different energy and electricity reduction projects undertaken because of Green Seal certification. This tool can be used by hotel managers and engineers to calculate their GHG and long-term financial savings.

As hotels across the globe increasingly embrace green practices, it is important for the lodging industry to pursue practices with real environmental benefits. Hotels can be one of the most energy and GHG intensive buildings, as they tend to keep lights on throughout hallways at night or run thermostats even when there are no occupants in the room. Green Seal’s GS-33 Hotels and Lodging Properties standard requires hotels to upgrade their energy intensive equipment and to integrate sustainability practices in their daily operations.

The Bren study strengthens the findings of an independent study by Washington State University, which stated that:  “The single most important thing is to become certified by an independent and credible agency such as Green Seal and Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design (LEED), the major certification programs in the lodging industry.”

Green Seal - Bren Study