Beehives and hotel-grown vegetables: Hilton Heathrow Q&A

• What current initiatives does Hilton London Heathrow Airport have in place to cut down waste? What is the hotel’s recycling plan?

In line with Hilton’s Travel with Purpose 2030 Goals to reduce food waste as part of the overall goal to reduce landfill waste intensity in Hilton’s managed operations by 50% by 2030, we’ve implemented a number of initiatives which have helped us to reduce waste and repurpose items that are usually thrown away – for example, utilised coffee grounds are also used as a fertiliser in the Chef’s Garden. Fruit and vegetable trimmings are collected and put in rotating compost bins, which speed up the rotting process and within a matter of months can then be used as compost on the garden beds. 

The hotel is also removing all single use plastics from meetings and events and guest soaps are also recycled, so there is as little waste as possible. Any unused soaps are collected and donated to Clean the World, a global health organisation. We are also moving away from individual toiletries to full-size amenities, reducing plastic waste from miniature toiletry bottles.

• How do you reduce water consumption?

At a hotel level, we have installed a dishwasher operation monitoring software to deliver water, energy, and chemical cost savings. We use reduced volume flushes in all guest rooms and public area toilets. All taps in public areas are sensor controlled along with staff changing facilities. 

Kitchen staff operate knee-controlled basins and every tap in the hotel is fitted with an air aerator flow unit which reduces the volume of water. Guest bedrooms are fitted with reduced volume hand-held shower heads. Half empty bottles of water are now repurposed and poured into a water butt, which is then used to water the Chef’s Garden.

• Can you tell me more about the Chef’s Garden?

We started the garden in spring 2022 and we now grow a whole range of fruit and vegetables, including raspberries, strawberries, blueberries and honeyberries as well as apple, pear, plum and cherry trees.

We did well with our vegetables last year and intend to do the same this year, giving us a crop of tomatoes, lettuce, fine beans, broad beans, beetroot, radishes, courgettes, onions and garlic.

The fruit and veg are used in a variety of ways, with the fruit used in our signature OXBO cocktails and salad and the fruit in our chocolate mousse.

• The hotel also has 4 beehives. Can you tell me where the idea of adopting bees comes from?

Installing beehives was part of our concept when creating the Chef’s Garden. Initially we had two which was then increased to four – which are home to 30,000 bees – and we hope to add more hives this year so we can house 50,000 bees.

At present the honey is gifted to guests but as we produce more, the intention is for it to be used in our restaurants. 

• Are the hotel guests aware of these implementations? What are their reactions for example regarding the beehives initiative or the Chef’s Garden? 

We share all of the initiatives that the hotel is creating via our social media and communications activity. We are currently working on the creation of a landing page with a dedicated QR code as well as placing the code strategically around the hotel, so that guests can link to the page and read all about our green initiatives.

We have created an infographic which features all of the information which is sent to guests. We have had a really positive reaction from guests who are very supportive of all of the work we’ve done so far.

• How did you decide what ESG measures to adopt and do you have any more initiatives in the works?

The measures at Hilton London Heathrow Airport are in line with Travel with Purpose, which is Hilton’s ESG strategy to drive responsible travel and tourism globally. Currently we are hoping to add more electric charging points. 

We have looked at virtually every area of the business – both front of house and behind the scenes – to see how we can make a difference. The recent improvements have been designed to meet more ambitious environmental targets and new social goals in order to help drive more sustainable operations and create engines of opportunity in the communities it serves.

We are also committed to offering carbon neutral meetings and our Meeting Calculator uses the hotel’s consumption data to create a bespoke report that shows clients the estimated carbon, energy, water and waste that will be produced from a meeting, event or stay at our hotel. Once carbon credits are procured, ClimeCo will issue a certificate to validate the carbon offsets that have been retired on the client’s behalf.