How to Make Your Hotel Greener
There can’t be many hotels that don’t ask their customers to think about if they really need fresh towels every day. It’s pretty standard environment-conscious policy these days. But is that all your hotel does? Climate change policies and legislative changes, including the recent green claim code announcement, make now the perfect time to up your eco-game.
Here are a few ideas:
1. Towels
Do more than ask guests to hold on to their towels for longer. Switch from white towels to dark towels; benefits include a longer life cycle, better sourcing options, and fewer harsh chemicals entering the environment.
The textile industry is one of the most highly polluting, generating a fifth of the world’s industrial water pollution. Dark coloured towels are better for the environment since they can be made from post-consumer recycled materials, reclaimed textiles, and scraps, and do not require bleaching, whereas white towels often require virgin resources and bleach to ensure a white finish, and then require large quantities of chemicals to maintain their colour.
2. Toilets
Add a toilet tank bag to existing toilets to save up to 11.4 litresof water after each flush!
Toilets can use up to 14 litres of water per flush wasting valuable freshwater resources and raising your water bill.
While dual flush toilets are rising in popularity, they are often costly, are used incorrectly, are poorly made, and take a long-time to install on a large scale.
Toilet tank bags are an inexpensive retrofitting option that is quick to install and very effective in reducing water consumption in hotel rooms and throughout the facility.
3. QR Coded Menus
Swap traditional printed room service and restaurant menus for QR codes to save resources, reduce waste, and reduce costs.
Print menus require resources for paper, ink, lamination, and binding, and often need to be reprinted if they are damaged, updated with new menu items, or simply out of style.
4. Eco-Friendly Cleaning Products
Commercial and professional cleaning products are filled with toxic chemicals that are costly (financially and environmentally) to produce, harmful to use, and detrimental when washed back into the environment. These products often contain allergens that cause long-term health issues, and many cleaning products negatively impact the guest experience as they worsen air quality. They also hurt the environment and biodiversity when run-off spreads to local ecosystems, particularly water systems, which are then destabilised by the introduction of harmful chemicals like triclosan, phosphates, phthalates, and more.
By using eco-friendly products, run-off from your facility will have low to no toxic chemicals since they are made from natural, biodegradable ingredients with few allergens. Many come in biodegradable packaging making end of life disposal easier too.
Green cleaning products can also be made out of products already found in your hotel. This saves money and allows your hotel to advertise that some cleaning products are made in a closed loop life cycle. For example, using citrus peels and vinegar from an on-site kitchen to make a natural all-purpose cleaner.
Dumpster Rental St Pete is commonly used by eco-certified cleaning companies to collect waste. A junk removal company may also offer eco-friendly cleaning products of professional-grade that can be purchased in bulk. Additionally, junk removal services can help you dispose of any discarded materials safely and in an eco-friendly manner. This approach not only results in cost savings but also reduces packaging waste.
5. Shower Product Dispensers
Swap out expensive, wasteful, single-use shower products in guest rooms for refillable dispensers containing environmentally friendly, cruelty-free products.
Individually packaged shower products like mini shampoo, conditioner, and body wash that must be replaced after each guest can become very wasteful and costly. This is especially a problem if a guest only uses a little bit of the product and then throws it out. Another issue is that many eco-friendly vendors will not sell in a single-use size due to the waste associated with the excess plastic packaging, which takes years to degrade, harms ecosystems and fills ever diminishing landfills. Switching to shower product dispensers allows guests to take what they need and avoid waste while remaining sanitary. This easy swap also allows you to have more options when choosing products to include in your hotel, including eco-friendly, cruelty-free, locally made natural shower products available at a lower cost in bulk.
By choosing these few, simple swaps you can make a genuine difference to your guests, your bottom line and to the future of the planet. Many suppliers are already stocking kinder options, whether it is for cleaning, personal care, towels or bed linen. And sites like Beyond Bamboo have specific sections for the hospitality sector to help buyers access certified products they can trust.
Incorporating eco-friendly cleaning products into your hospitality business doesn’t just benefit the environment; it can also enhance the guest experience and streamline operations. For instance, Capable Clean offers a range of conscious cleaning solutions designed to meet the rigorous demands of the hospitality industry. By choosing these products, you not only reduce your carbon footprint but also ensure that your establishment maintains high standards of cleanliness and hygiene.
Making the switch to environmentally friendly products and operations often leads to both short- and long-term savings, reduces waste, engages your guests, and boosts efficiency. For example, climate NGO Wrap found that hotels saved $7 for every $1 invested in reducing food waste and 70% had recouped their investment within just one year.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Divya Vaghela is from Beyond Bamboo, a global community of sustainable products, services and suppliers working as a collective to restore and rejuvenate the planet. With a consumer marketplace, a B2B supplier portal, a knowledge hub and a team of passionate people dedicated to triple bottom line reporting, Beyond Bamboo aims to help us all do well by doing good.
Web: www.beyondbamboot.online