What goes around, as the old saying has it, comes around—literally— at the JW Marriott Grand Rapids (Michigan). For the past year, the 337-room hotel has sent all of its organic waste to a composting facility where it is converted into soil and sent back for use in the hotel’s vegetable garden, with positive and profitable results.

The program, called Specialized Organics Recycling Team (SORT), is part of a partnership with nearby Spurt Industries in Zeeland, Michigan. It has helped the hotel earn the prestigious Green Lodging Michigan Leader certification in both 2008 and 2009 from the Michigan Department of Energy, Labor, and Economic Growth.

CUTTING COST, BOOSTING STATUS
Cost savings, a pristine loading dock, a burgeoning garden, and the ability to attract more green meeting business are all benefits the hotel is seeing from the SORT program.

Cost-wise, SORT saves JW Marriott Grand Rapids about $2,200 per year in greatly reduced garbage weight. “In most areas [of Michigan], the cost is comparable to landfill tipping fees, but in Grand Rapids, [our program is] considerably less expensive,” says Spurt General Manager Rick Menken, who oversees the company’s three facilities in the southwest Michigan area.

“Given that food and organic waste is such a large part of the waste stream, the SORT program reduces the amount going to the incinerators,” Menken says. SORT also improves the hotel’s loading dock cleanliness. Fruit flies and unpleasant odors are no longer an issue, since the compost collection containers are power-washed weekly and the barrels daily.

Compost-based soil from the SORT program goes back to the garden each spring. The raised-bed plot, a triangular space measuring about 30 feet per side, saves on food costs by producing half of the kitchen’s tomato and herb requirements during the growing season. Day-to-day garden care is provided by a nearby farm cooperative, Trillium Haven Farm. The hotel garden also serves as the focal point for outdoor brunches featuring the property’s Six One Six restaurant’s signature farm-to-plate fare.

From a marketing standpoint, the ecofriendliness of SORT helps the hotel attract meeting planners seeking to reduce their environmental footprint. In addition to the composting program, the hotel features LEED-approved recycled aluminum tables, LED lighting, nearly linen-free meeting operations, and a bulk gas and electric purchasing agreement that lowers utility costs. Six One Six restaurant also advertises its seasonal, locally sourced food.

A SIMPLE PLAN
Here’s how the SORT program works: The hotel staff collects biodegradable waste—everything from food, newspapers, magazines, and paper plates to coffee grounds and unwaxed paper cartons—and puts it in blue plastic collection barrels throughout the property. Full barrels are dumped into a two-yard container, which Spurt picks up six days a week. Weekly volume averages about one ton.

Spurt composts the organic material at its facility. In the spring, the hotel receives a truckload of the compost-based soil (at no cost) for its vegetable garden. Garden produce goes to the kitchen to be used in the hotel restaurant. And the cycle begins again.

SUCCESS FACTORS
Pre-planning was crucial to SORT success. “We determined the location and number of collection barrels (about 40 in all), purchased the necessary equipment, and retrofitted the dock to make it work better with the container,” explains F&B Director Darin Jemison. “At the same time, we held meetings with department heads to create a culture of being an environmentally conscious company.” Equally crucial are the hotel’s ongoing partnerships with Spurt and Trillium Haven Farm.

Though the hotel declines to disclose a dollar amount for the cost of using Trillium’s services, F&B Operations Manager Phil Weaver says it’s “a modest amount” and explains that it’s a cooperative partnership in which the hotel helps Trillium in various ways—dinners and events at the farm, for example—and Trillium helps the hotel by overseeing the garden.

Despite its simplicity, the SORT program took several months to run smoothly. “It’s all about educating the staff to use the correct barrels for compostables, metal, glass, or trash,” Weaver says. Education and persistence, in the form of posters, SORT ambassadors for each section, and the belief that it was “the right thing to do,” eventually paid off. “Now everyone from servers to kitchen staff helps sort,” Weaver says. “It’s become second nature here.”

Janice Cha has covered the foodservice industry for more than a decade, focusing on kitchen equipment for the past seven years.

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