Green Hotels: Donating and/or Recycling Shampoo and Bath Amenities

We're always on the look-out for hotels that provide both a stellar guest experience and an eco-friendly philosophy. Bardessono in Napa Valley is one of our faves, as is the Cuisinart Resort in Anguilla. We keep tabs on green building techniques, recycling programs, and renewable energy sources. But pouring out unused shampoo bottles, sorting them, and recycling them? That gets serious props. This weekend's Washington Post Travel section, the devoted "Hotel Issue," points out two hotels that do just that:

International House in New Orleans goes to the trouble of pouring out unused shampoo, soap and lotion, sorting the bottles and sending everything to the nonprofit Clean the World, which then distributes the recycled cleansers and bottles to shelters in the United States and to children in poor countries overseas. The Pan Pacific Hotel Seattle also donates partially used amenities to a local women's shelter.

The International House's Reimer said that her hotel opted for the more expensive charitable route instead of installing bulk shampoo and soap dispensers of the sort used elsewhere. "In a four-star hotel, it just looks too motel-ish," she said.