The San Francisco Marriott Marquis was honored by the San Francisco Department of the Environment for recycling and composting 85% of its waste through a community partnership with Toolworks, a local non-profit agency that provides training, education and employment opportunities for people with disabilities. This innovative partnership was in response to the city of San Francisco’s challenge to achieve “Zero Waste” by 2020.

 

The hotel, owned by Host Hotels & Resorts, deploys the Toolworks team to serve as back-of-house “Zero Waste Facilitators,” where they work on the loading dock to sort and process about 20,000 pounds of waste generated from 1,500 guest rooms, three restaurants and over 130,000 square feet of meeting space each day. Through this partnership, the team helps keep valuable materials from ending up in landfills by making sure everything is sorted properly—whether composted, recycled or donated for reuse.

 

The San Francisco Marriott Marquis has partnered with Toolworks since the hotel opened in 1989, providing housekeeping, custodial, and other job opportunities to people with disabilities. When the city began requiring recycling and composting for all businesses as part of the zero waste goal, the hotel recruited the Toolworks staff to help more efficiently manage its waste processing.

 

The partnership provides productive and meaningful work for people with disabilities, while benefitting the environment and improving the hotel’s bottom line performance. In May 2017, the City of San Francisco and Recology recognized the hotel and Toolworks for these achievements, including $249,000 in rebates from the hotel’s waste management company and an 85% diversion rate.

 

Read the press release to learn more about the San Francisco Marriott Marquis’ pioneering recycling program and partnership with Toolworks.

 

Learn more about Host’s Corporate Responsibility program.

 

 

Image: Chuck Pacioni, General Manager of San Francisco Marriott Marquis and Debbie Raphael, Director of the San Francisco Department of Environment