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The three Rs
CHRAQ News & Reviews Reduce, reuse, and recycle
The Three Rs A combination of shrewd marketing strategy and genuine concern is leading the hospitality industry toward a variety of environmentally sensitive policies and practices. Some practices depend upon the direct cooperation of customers while others are invisible to them, but most policies are based on the premise of "reduce, reuse, and recycle," (or "reduce, recycle, replant," or "reuse, refill, recycle"-everyone seems to agree on the three Rs, but what they stand for varies). IHEI. The development of individual company policies has recently been encouraged by an international initiative to support good environmental practices within the industry. Chief executives of 11 major international hotel chains, including Accor, Forte PLC, Hilton International, Holiday Inn Worldwide, Inter-Continental Hotels Group, Marriott Lodging Group, Ramada International Hotels and Resorts, and ITT Sheraton were the charter signatories of the International Hotels Environment Initiative (IHEI) that binds signatories to the promotion of high environmental standards. Inter-ContinentaL InterContinental first laid out its
own environmental commitment in its Environment Manual, which recently won the company the first-ever "Greening of Business Tourism Award," sponsored by Corporate & Incentive Travel magazine and the
European Incentive and Business Travel & Meetings Exhibition. The Environment Manual was actually the impetus for the formation of the IHEI, and an adapted version of the manual was adopted by the IHEI for use by hotel companies and regional travel organizations worldwide. Inter-Continental' s 200-page manual provides directives for better hotel operations and includes a 134-point checklist to evaluate and improve waste management, water quality, and conservation. Required practices include the use of vegetablebased bath amenities in recyclable packaging made entirely from recycled products and printed with wateroi vegetable-based biodegradable dyes. Also, those products may not be tested on animals. The Body Shop. The Body Shop, an international skin-and-haircare company with an environmental conscience and a strict policy against animal testing, has launched a hotel amenities program to capitalize on the formation of the IHEI and to support the hospitality industry's growing environmental awareness. As the company does with all its own suppliers, The Body Shop has produced a list of environmental criteria that it will encourage hotels to adopt before signing any vendor agreements. The list includes questions such as: does the hotel group have a member of its board or
October 1993 senior management responsible for environmental management?, what efforts does the hotel group make to educate its clients and staff about responsible environmental practices within the hotel?, and, what are recycling facilities like? The Body Shop's products contain ingredients from renewable sources, both man-made and natural, and are produced for sale with minimal packaging. The company stresses that it uses only raw materials that can be obtained without negatively impacting the environment. The Body Shop's Hotel Amenities Program offers one-ounce bottles of shampoo, conditioner, hand and body lotion, shower gel, bathing bubbles, and soap; the bottles themselves can be returned to The Body Shop for recycling. Although retail customers of The Body Shop are encouraged to bring back clean, empty bottles for refilling, the Hotel Amenities Program provides only for recycling. According to The Body Shop, hotels have yet to take advantage of the offer to return the bottles for recycling, probably for one of two reasons: hotels can recycle the bottles locally-if they have a recycling program in place--and guests often choose to take the bath amenities with them when they check out. Westin Hotels and Resorts. Westin Hotels and
Resorts has begun to implement an even-better strategy for bath amenities. "Environmentally friendly" guest rooms at the Westin Bayshore, Vancouver, provide pump dispensers for soap, shampoo, and lotion, which minimize the need to
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recycle thousands of tiny amenity bottles. The Westin Bayshore has retrofitted 75 of its 517 guest rooms to meet its own energy and water conservation initiatives. Guest surveys have shown wide support for the program, although some guests miss the traditional bar of soap. In addition to pump dispensers, the retrofitted rooms include energyefficient lighting, water restrictors in the shower head and toilet tank, and an option for towels to be laundered daily or less frequently, as requested by the guest. Guests can request to stay in one of these special rooms, which are all located on non-smoking floors. The new rooms are just one of the environmentally sensitive practices the Westin Bayshore began implementing in 1991. Other practices include the use of citrus-based or non-toxic cleaners, low-lead mercury paints, stationery printed on recycled paper, and minimal packaging. The hotel has a contract with a local recycling firm that has the capability of sorting wet and dry waste. By recycling all hotel waste, the Westin Bayshore has eliminated the need for visits to the city's landfill. In two years, trips to the landfill went from 120 per year to zero. Although Westin Hotels and Resorts has a general policy of environmental awareness, specific programs and policies have been left up to individual properties. The Westin Bayshore's program, although planned and implemented on the local level, could become a model for other Westin properties as well as other hotel companies.--W.H.
THE CORNELL H.R.A. QUARTERLY
The Three Rs A combination of shrewd marketing strategy and genuine concern is leading the hospitality industry toward a variety of environmentally sensitive policies and practices. Some practices depend upon the direct cooperation of customers while others are invisible to them, but most policies are based on the premise of "reduce, reuse, and recycle," (or "reduce, recycle, replant," or "reuse, refill, recycle"-everyone seems to agree on the three Rs, but what they stand for varies). IHEI. The development of individual company policies has recently been encouraged by an international initiative to support good environmental practices within the industry. Chief executives of 11 major international hotel chains, including Accor, Forte PLC, Hilton International, Holiday Inn Worldwide, Inter-Continental Hotels Group, Marriott Lodging Group, Ramada International Hotels and Resorts, and ITT Sheraton were the charter signatories of the International Hotels Environment Initiative (IHEI) that binds signatories to the promotion of high environmental standards. Inter-ContinentaL InterContinental first laid out its
own environmental commitment in its Environment Manual, which recently won the company the first-ever "Greening of Business Tourism Award," sponsored by Corporate & Incentive Travel magazine and the
European Incentive and Business Travel & Meetings Exhibition. The Environment Manual was actually the impetus for the formation of the IHEI, and an adapted version of the manual was adopted by the IHEI for use by hotel companies and regional travel organizations worldwide. Inter-Continental' s 200-page manual provides directives for better hotel operations and includes a 134-point checklist to evaluate and improve waste management, water quality, and conservation. Required practices include the use of vegetablebased bath amenities in recyclable packaging made entirely from recycled products and printed with wateroi vegetable-based biodegradable dyes. Also, those products may not be tested on animals. The Body Shop. The Body Shop, an international skin-and-haircare company with an environmental conscience and a strict policy against animal testing, has launched a hotel amenities program to capitalize on the formation of the IHEI and to support the hospitality industry's growing environmental awareness. As the company does with all its own suppliers, The Body Shop has produced a list of environmental criteria that it will encourage hotels to adopt before signing any vendor agreements. The list includes questions such as: does the hotel group have a member of its board or
October 1993 senior management responsible for environmental management?, what efforts does the hotel group make to educate its clients and staff about responsible environmental practices within the hotel?, and, what are recycling facilities like? The Body Shop's products contain ingredients from renewable sources, both man-made and natural, and are produced for sale with minimal packaging. The company stresses that it uses only raw materials that can be obtained without negatively impacting the environment. The Body Shop's Hotel Amenities Program offers one-ounce bottles of shampoo, conditioner, hand and body lotion, shower gel, bathing bubbles, and soap; the bottles themselves can be returned to The Body Shop for recycling. Although retail customers of The Body Shop are encouraged to bring back clean, empty bottles for refilling, the Hotel Amenities Program provides only for recycling. According to The Body Shop, hotels have yet to take advantage of the offer to return the bottles for recycling, probably for one of two reasons: hotels can recycle the bottles locally-if they have a recycling program in place--and guests often choose to take the bath amenities with them when they check out. Westin Hotels and Resorts. Westin Hotels and
Resorts has begun to implement an even-better strategy for bath amenities. "Environmentally friendly" guest rooms at the Westin Bayshore, Vancouver, provide pump dispensers for soap, shampoo, and lotion, which minimize the need to
18
recycle thousands of tiny amenity bottles. The Westin Bayshore has retrofitted 75 of its 517 guest rooms to meet its own energy and water conservation initiatives. Guest surveys have shown wide support for the program, although some guests miss the traditional bar of soap. In addition to pump dispensers, the retrofitted rooms include energyefficient lighting, water restrictors in the shower head and toilet tank, and an option for towels to be laundered daily or less frequently, as requested by the guest. Guests can request to stay in one of these special rooms, which are all located on non-smoking floors. The new rooms are just one of the environmentally sensitive practices the Westin Bayshore began implementing in 1991. Other practices include the use of citrus-based or non-toxic cleaners, low-lead mercury paints, stationery printed on recycled paper, and minimal packaging. The hotel has a contract with a local recycling firm that has the capability of sorting wet and dry waste. By recycling all hotel waste, the Westin Bayshore has eliminated the need for visits to the city's landfill. In two years, trips to the landfill went from 120 per year to zero. Although Westin Hotels and Resorts has a general policy of environmental awareness, specific programs and policies have been left up to individual properties. The Westin Bayshore's program, although planned and implemented on the local level, could become a model for other Westin properties as well as other hotel companies.--W.H.
THE CORNELL H.R.A. QUARTERLY