Category: Videos
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.
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Xeric Landscaping
I've talked for years about the wisdom of hotels planting xeric gardens. People tend to think of gravel and rock landscapes when xeric landscaping is mentioned, but that's not what I'm talking about. Yes, gravel can be a good mulch, but filling the space with colorful native plants is the idea I'm focusing on.
Xeric hotel gardens are beautiful and attract butterflies and birds. When planted with xeric, or water wise, plants you save money and precious natural resources. What a great step in running a sustainable hotel.
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Recyclable Keycards?
Environmentally friendly keycards, made of various biodegradable, non-manmade materials, so when they do get thrown away, hopefully into a compost pile, they'll decompose and nourish the land. The original PVC plastic keycard doesn't biodegrade and relies on petroleum, though there are some advances in the manufacture of this kind of card.
A green keycard is an environmentally friendly solution to room keys. Exchange the PVC keycard your hotel uses now and opt for an environmentally friendly one made of PLA, paperboard, or wood.
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Natural Fiber Sheets and Towels
All cotton sheets and towels are fine, and organic is better, but other natural fiber linens are even better -- they are the best!
Natural fiber linens and things -- like sheets and towels -- are one easy step a hotel can make as it increases its sustainable operations. The excellent properties of natural fiber sheets and towels makes them a fabulous fiber to pamper your guests with.
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Bulk Amenity Dispensing
One of the easiest green initiatives hotels can take in their move toward being a sustainable hotel is using bulk amenity dispensers. But it's one of the steps that most hoteliers are resisting most. That just doesn't make sense to me.
Waste management is probably the biggest issue behind using bulk amenities dispensing, but improved product quality and reducing our reliance on oil are important too. Hotels that want to save money and the environment, while providing quality guestroom amenities will switch from individual soaps and shampoos to bulk dispensers.
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Ban Laurel Sulfate
Hotels owe it to their guests to provide soap and shampoo that don't contain sodium laurel sulfate (SLS). It doesn't matter which chemical name it's labeled as, it's harmful. Hotels would be kinder to their guests to not even offer shampoo and soap than to provide amenities with laurel sulfate.
Soap and shampoo don't need laurel sulfate in them to be effective. Ban laurel sulfate from toiletries. Laurel sulfate, known by numerous names, is a known irritant. Chemical sensitivity is an increasing problem for people so help them out by reducing the irritants you can.
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Clean with Green Products
Green cleaning, which isn't at all the same as green washing, is one easy way to decrease costs and increase the comfort of people coming into your hotel. You can have a clean hotel, increase guest comfort, and save money by using natural or environmentally friendly cleaning products.
Have a green day and use environmentally friendly cleaning products. Going green includes using natural ingredients for cleaning supplies. Lemon juice, baking soda, white vinegar, water and microfiber cloths are the basis for a clean and inexpensive cleaning program.
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Have a Fragrance-Free Hotel
I've covered this topic several times, but it's important enough to keep talking about it. Chemical-based fragrances are decreasing air quality and increasing health problems with people coming into your hotel. Strive for fresh air not perfumed air.
Hotel operations are contributing the sick-building syndrome because of the chemicals they use. Perfume and fragrance are added to mask the chemical smell and to give the notion of fresh and clean. At the very least these daily operation procedures are making people sick, but they may be slowly killing people too.
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Promote "Greenness" on Your Hotel's Website
Why would a hotel go to the effort, and sometimes expense, of getting a green certification and not tell its guests about it? That action is all too common. And an action that baffles me.
Promoting your specific green actions is the sign a hotel is proud of its environmentally friendly actions and sustainable operations. A hotel is truly green when it announces on its website the hotel's environmental policies and attitudes. The logo of the green certification program, awards and associations is another good item a hotel can post on its website.
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Environmentally Friendly Hotels
EnvironmentallyFriendlyHotels.com is where people go to find hotels around the world that cater to their green interests. You can search for the environmental initiative that is your passion or need and for your preferred location. Mix and match your search criteria and travel green.
Green travelers have a great website to help them travel "greener" - EnvironmentallyFriendlyHotels.com, and its sister site TheBestGreenHotels.com . Don't forget to travel lighter, recycle along the way, and conserve water and energy as you can.
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The Great Green Hope?
There seems to be a lot of hope in the air these days. Everybody has a different reason to be hopeful, but I think Barak Obama's upcoming inauguration is the crest of the "hope wave". My hope is that he makes good on cleaning up the environment, turn the economy around, and bring peace to the U.S.
Barak Obama's 44th Presidency, beginning in a couple of weeks, brings hope to people who haven't had much of that lately. I wonder whether he can help solve many of the environmental issues we face today, the economy, health care, the infrastructure, and so many problems we face. I am looking forward to seeing if his campaign of HOPE carries the environment into his Presidency.
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Why Line Wastebaskets?
I've wondered for years why hotels line their guestroom wastebaskets. It looks ugly. The bags cost money, unless you use plastic grocery bags (and that's even uglier). The bags consume resources in manufacture and distribution. And it takes more manpower for housekeepers to put the bags in and then take them out again.
To be an even more sustainable hotel why not take one more step -- don't line your wastebaskets. Conserve natural resources (and money) and reduce waste by skipping that step.
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Green Resolutions
Resolutions are good any time you want to make a change in your life or business, but the New Year is an especially great time to resolve for change.
Resolve to be a green hotel by making your daily operations more sustainable. One simple step any hotel can take that will save money and resources is energy and water conservation. What environmentally friendly step do you resolve to take?
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