Starwood Hotels' commitment to environmental friendliness is as strong as its commitment to providing meeting groups and individual guests with the highest caliber of services. Properties in the Starwood Convention Collection - comprised of 30 of Starwood's largest Sheraton and Westin hotels - are helping to lead the way.

The Sheraton San Diego Hotel & Marina is managed with a focus on business practices that help improve environmental performance and impact. The property is the first hotel in North America to be fully powered by fuel cell technology and, as a result, produces its own source of clean electricity. The hotel also partners with IMS Recycling Services for the "Sheraton San Diego Hotel & Marina Recycles" program.

Then there's Westin Convention Center Pittsburgh. In addition to being attached to the David L. Lawrence Convention Center, the first certified Green Convention Center, Westin Convention Center Pittsburgh has installed an energy-saver feature in its guest rooms that allows lighting and HVAC to be controlled via a room key. A recycling program, implemented in partnership with Pittsburgh Recycling, permits paper, cardboard, cans, plastic, and metal to be discarded in an earth-friendly manner. A guest room towel and sheet reuse program, coupled with new energy-efficient laundry equipment recycles 80 percent of the water utilized.

Many of the customer communications, reservation lists, and billing details are conveyed electronically rather than on paper, as are all internal communications. Electronic reader boards in all meeting rooms replace printed documents and easels, while Roselli Silver tables used for banquets reduce the need for linen and skirting, in turn conserving water. All public restrooms feature motion-activated towel dispensers and automatic faucets, and cloth napkins are used instead of paper at banquets and in the hotel's restaurants. At Le Centre Sheraton Montreal, paper and plastic tableware are no longer used during coffee breaks; china cups and saucers are supplied instead. In meeting rooms, water is served from pitchers rather than in individual plastic bottles.

The hotel also has a comprehensive recycling program for paper, paperboard, plastic, metal, and glass, as well as printer cartridges and batteries. Compact fluorescent bulbs are now found throughout the hotel and an energy-saving program for ventilation and lighting is in force.

Finally, as part of a larger Starwood Hotels and Resorts water conservation initiative in the Southeast, the Sheraton Birmingham hotel and connected Birmingham Jefferson Convention Complex sets tables with water glasses only, with tea served by request. General Manager Mark Noyes said this is a first step in a plan to make food and beverage service at the Sheraton Birmingham more environmentally friendly. One planned change is the elimination of water pitchers on each table at every meeting. Instead, meetings at the Sheraton and at the BJCC will have a water station or bottled water available on request for a minimal charge.

SCC hotels offer a total of almost 3 million square feet of meeting space. For more information, visit www.starwoodconventioncollection.com, call (888) 201-4482, or contact your global sales representative.

Sheraton San diego hotel & marina: Among its many green initiatives, this property also collects water bottles discarded by meeting attendees in recycling bins. Bills are presented on CD-ROMs rather than paper. And like most Sheraton hotels, it participates in the Sheraton Linen Program, an initiative by Starwood Hotels & Resorts.