Eco-Friendly Options
“Going green” is all about making choices that minimize your environmental footprint. When it comes to travel, that can mean choosing a destination that prioritizes sustainability – like Grand Rapids.
It can also mean choosing places to meet, stay, dine and play based on their earth-friendly practices. Grand Rapids offers a whole host of options for eco-conscious visitors.
Meet
DeVos Place Convention Center, a state-of-the-art facility in the heart of downtown, is certified as a “Green Venue” by the state of Michigan. It has implemented a wide range of environmental and sustainability initiatives, including:
- Automated faucets and flushing systems to reduce water consumption
- Membrane-style roof reflects heat away to decrease energy consumption
- Computer-controlled lighting and HVAC for more energy efficiency
- Donating leftover food and composting food waste to reduce landfill use
Stay
The Amway Grand Plaza, Curio Collection by Hilton practices a hotel-wide Stay Green program that includes energy-efficient lighting, multiple recycling programs, and continually embracing and researching new green initiatives.
Environmental initiatives at the JW Marriott Grand Rapids include reducing energy and water consumption, increasing recycling and purchasing only green cleaners.
Hyatt Place Grand Rapids South became the city’s first LEED-certified hotel in 2009. (LEED is a system that evaluates the sustainability of buildings.)
CityFlatsHotel is certified LEED Gold thanks to such green features as cork flooring, hypoallergenic bamboo linens, high-efficiency heating and cooling units, low-flow water fixtures, and locally manufactured furniture and décor.
Holiday Inn Grand Rapids Downtown is an IHG Green Engage Hotel implementing a wide range of green solutions to measure and manage its environmental impact.
Peaches Bed & Breakfast has participated in Michigan's Green Lodging Initiative since 2007, when it scored higher than any other property in the state.
Dine
Grand Rapids boasts a large concentration of farm-to-fork restaurants that partner with local farmers to promote sustainable agriculture, reduce transportation footprints and support the area economy. Notable eateries include:
Bistro Bella Vita, Grove and the LEED-certified Green Well Gastro Pub – all part of the Essence Restaurant Group – source ingredients from small, local farmers and employ many other sustainable practices.
El Granjero Mexican Grill uses fresh, local ingredients to prepare its dishes and recruited 12 Latinx businesses to join a Latino Business for Sustainability campaign to promote recycling, composting and other sustainability initiatives.
Gilmore Restaurants – including Blue Water, Bobarino’s, BOB’s Brewery, Bostwick Lake Inn, Flat River Grill, Paddock Place and Rose’s – grow some of their own produce and botanicals, and work diligently to reduce their resource consumption.
Luna, a Latin American eatery, was named the Best Farm-to-Table Restaurant in Michigan by Travel+Leisure magazine.
Margaux in the JW Marriott Grand Rapids supplements its long list of local suppliers with its own Chef's Garden.
Reserve Wine & Food embraces the bounty of local farms and artisanal products.
Drink
Brewery Vivant, the first LEED Silver certified microbrewery in the U.S., publishes an annual report detailing the sustainability impact of both its operation and its sister brewery, Broad Leaf Brewery & Spirits.
Grand Rapids Brewing Company, Michigan’s first certified organic brewery, won a “Biggest Loser” award in the Battle of the Buildings competition recognizing energy conservation.
Founders Brewing Co., which partnered with the city of Grand Rapids to develop a more sustainable solution for its bio-waste, sets annual sustainability goals for reducing water use, increasing energy efficiency, and reducing waste.
Last Mile Café is a coffee shop/roaster that seeks to set a sustainable example for the coffee industry – as an example, its coffee bags are made from renewable and compostable resources.
New Holland Brewing - The Knickerbocker complements its award-winning beer menu with a rustic, seasonal menu showcasing local and regional agriculture.
Local makers of hard and soft craft ciders use fresh apples picked in area orchards. (This is one of the world’s best apple-growing regions.)
Madcap Coffee, an award-winning coffee roaster, runs a Zero Waste program to lessen its environmental impact.
Play
Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park, one of the Midwest’s most popular tourist attractions, earned LEED Silver certification for such features as a reflective rubber roof.
The Grand Rapids Art Museum, the words first LEED Gold-certified art museum, receives 70% of its light from natural sources and reuses on-site rain and grey water.
Downtown Market Grand Rapids is a LEED Gold-certified food emporium that showcases local agriculture through on-site restaurants, artisan shops, classes and events.
John Ball Zoo composts more than 225,000 pounds of animal waste, animal bedding, leaves and food waste year – and that’s just one of the ways it’s working to conserve resources.
The Rapid Central Bus Station is the first transportation facility in the U.S. to receive LEED certification.
Clothing Matters, one of Michigan's “Best and Brightest Sustainable Companies,” offers a world-class collection of sustainably manufactured apparel.
Blandford Nature Center, named the 2021 West Michigan Sustainable Business of the Year, has naturalized a former golf course adjacent to its property (and earned a West Michigan Clean Water Leadership Award in the process). It is planning a facility for the reclaimed golf course that will meet the Living Building Challenge, the world’s most ambitious green building standard.