BETHESDA, Md. — Westin Hotels & Resorts has launched Project Rise: ThreadForward, a first-of-its-kind sustainability program that collects, processes and reweaves hotel bed linens into children’s pajamas.
“As people integrate wellness into their lifestyle more holistically on the road and at home, giving back has increasingly become important to their overall sense of well-being,” says Brian Povinelli, SVP & global Brand leader, Westin Hotels & Resorts. “Wellness is in the Westin brand’s DNA and Project Rise: Thread Forward is evidence that we can empower the well-being of our guests and associates as well as make a difference in the communities around us — hopefully inspiring change in the industry as a whole.”
The new initiative was born out the brand’s global Project Rise challenge, which called upon Westin associates to submit ideas to empower the communities in which they live and work. The linen-recycling initiative was selected from a pool of more than 325 associate-submitted ideas to be solution funded by the brand.
Westin tapped Clean the World — best known for its soap recycling programs — and Divergent Energy, to develop the hospitality industry’s first system to collect, process and reweave the discarded linens into a new fabric for pajamas. A new and proprietary upcycling process was developed specifically for this program to ensure the new fabric met both U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) regulations and provided the comfort sought in children’s pajamas.
In just five months, 50 Westin hotels around the world submitted approximately 30,000 pounds of bed linens and terry to be sorted, broken down and reweaved into new material.
With Delivering Good and their network of community partners, Westin will begin donating the first 1,500 pajamas to children in need, in April. Beginning April 16, the pyjamas will also be available on westinstore.com for US$25, with a portion of proceeds will go back to Delivering Good.
