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Composting for Sustainable Hotels
I've been advocating and educating for green hotel operations for twenty years. My efforts to develop green hotels started morphing into efforts to develop sustainable hotels about nine years ago. With sustainability a focus I have my radar tuned to pick up interesting tidbits about other businesses' sustainability growth.
Sustainable hotels that adopt composting reduce their waste stream and improve their efficiency. Part of a hotel's sustainable development plan is to reduce waste of all kinds, and compost bins fit that plan. Decomposing vegetable matter in landfills produces methane which then contributes to air pollution. The compost loam makes a great additive to improve garden soil, retain moisture, and grow healthier plants.
A few years ago I saw an article about Massachussets grocers were composting their food scraps and compostable paper products too. I suggested then that restaurants adopt the same strategy as part of their their waste management efforts. Today, 3 and a half years later, hotels with restaurants are starting to compost.
Composting Hotel Organic Waste Video
Hotels that have integrated composting into their sustainable actions have either started their own compost piles at the property or found a company or farmer to collect their food waste for them. Part of the dock area has been set aside for the purpose of a container that won't leak the liquids that seep from vegetable matter. Some of these hotels use the compost loam in their own gardens, others let the company that collected the scraps keep it for their own use.
Don't think composting is done only by a certain type of hotel, or in certain areas. I have seen all types of hotels participate in composting programs, and these hotels are located all over the country. The DoubleTree in Portland was the first hotel I knew of that composts. Now I can add to that list DC's Fairmont and Willard hotels, the Palace in San Francisco, Casa Laguna in Laguna Beach, CA, Stonehurst Place in Atlanta, GA, and Waianuhea B&B in Honokaa on the big island of Hawaii. There are many more you can find by using EnvironmentallyFriendlyHotels.com.
Links to composting tips:
And to worm bins:
Look for ways you can compost your vegetable matter scraps. Lighten your waste stream to landfills. Reduce air pollution. Improve the soil for someone's garden. That's one way of tackling the triple bottom line for your hotel - profit, planet and people. And it's an ECOnomically Sound approach to business.
Posted by Kit
