Marriott HQ Gets 'Greener' - Heads for Zero Net Waste in Five Years

BETHESDA, Md., Nov. 14 /PRNewswire/ -- To mark America Recycles Day(*), Marriott International, Inc. headquarters will begin lessening the load on area landfills by eliminating 2.5 million pieces, or 20 tons, of Styrofoam and plastic utensils annually. The old products will be replaced with those made of potato ("SpudWare(TM)"), sugar cane and cornstarch, all fully biodegradable within an average of 100 days. This industry-leading effort is part of a comprehensive global campaign to reduce Marriott's environmental footprint and save energy costs.

"This is just one step toward Marriott's efforts to integrate environmental sustainability into our business strategy, acting both locally at our headquarters and globally across our 3,000 hotels in nearly 70 countries," said Arne Sorenson, co-chair of the company's Green Council and Chief Financial Officer and President, Continental European Lodging.

To encourage employees to leave a smaller environmental footprint, Marriott headquarters has designated 30 parking spaces for drivers of hybrid vehicles, and will distribute free reusable "to go" mugs and water bottles to employees to encourage conservation. Green ambassadors from throughout the company will teach employees green office strategies, with demonstrations on recycling, composting and energy conservation.

"With more than 3,000 employees at Marriott Headquarters, if we all do our part, we can definitely make a difference-both at the office and at home," says Jim Young, Senior Director of Corporate Facilities at Marriott's headquarters.

Earlier this year, Marriott announced that it's on track to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by nearly one million cubic tons by 2010-the equivalent of removing approximately 140,000 cars from the road.(**)

Marriott has been recognized as a "Partner of the Year" by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) since 2004 and has more than 250 hotels with the EPA's Energy Star(R) label.

To see Marriott's environmental initiatives in action, visit YouTube for a short video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6eiCEMp45U8. For more information on Marriott's green initiatives, visit http://www.marriott.com/truegreen.

* Sponsored by the America Recycling Coalition, America Recycles Day (Nov. 15) is celebrating its tenth year, and is the nationally recognized day dedicated to encourage Americans to recycle and to buy recycled products. ** Marriott calculation based on published EPA data.

MARRIOTT INTERNATIONAL, INC. is a leading lodging company with more than 2,900 lodging properties in the United States and 67 other countries and territories. Marriott International operates and franchises hotels under the Marriott, JW Marriott, The Ritz-Carlton, Renaissance, Residence Inn, Courtyard, TownePlace Suites, Fairfield Inn, SpringHill Suites and Bulgari brand names; develops and operates vacation ownership resorts under the Marriott Vacation Club, Horizons by Marriott Vacation Club, The Ritz-Carlton Club and Grand Residences by Marriott brands; operates Marriott Executive Apartments; provides furnished corporate housing through its Marriott ExecuStay division; and operates conference centers. The company is headquartered in Bethesda, Md., and had approximately 151,000 employees at 2006 year-end. It is ranked as the lodging industry's most admired company and one of the best places to work for by FORTUNE(R). The company is also a 2006 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ENERGY STAR(R) Partner. In fiscal year 2006, Marriott International reported sales from continuing operations of $12.2 billion. For more information or reservations, please visit our web site at http://www.marriott.com/.

Contact: Stephanie Hampton Stephanie.hampton@marriott.com 301-380-1217