Sustainability at Work awards Gold Certification to Portland Hawthorne Hostel

Portland, Ore. — Hostelling International’s Portland Hawthorne Hostel has been named the third Portland business to achieve Sustainability at Work’s gold certification and is being recognized for its leadership in helping to make Portland one of the cleanest, most sustainable cities in the country. To earn this honor, Portland Hostel completed more than 88 actions to benefit our local economy, our community and our environment. These actions were verified during an on-site visit with a Sustainability at Work adviser. Portland Hostel is committed to operations that embrace environmental, social and economic responsibility. Significant achievements in sustainability include calculating its carbon footprint and creating a reduction plan, recycling 75 percent of their waste, and composting nearly 2,100 pounds of food waste onsite annually. Most significantly, and with grant support from the City of Portland, Portland Hostel has built over 1,000 square feet of ecoroofs and permeable walls as well as an 8,000-gallon rainwater harvesting system that collects and distributes 43,000 gallons of rainwater annually to the hostel’s toilets. More than 800 community members participate in free or low-cost educational programming, events and ecotours, and guests from around the world spend a minimum of $11,500 using TriMet’s services annually.   “Congratulations to Portland Hawthorne Hostel on becoming Sustainability at Work’s third Gold Certified organization,” acknowledged Mayor Sam Adams. “We appreciate Portland Hostel’s leadership in taking concrete actions to make Portland a better place to live and work, and hope that their achievement inspires other businesses to make innovative changes that improve profitability and sustainability.”