How to ensure your hotel has a sufficient recycling policy

Everyone knows that looking after our world has never been as critical as it is today. With the levels of carbon dioxide that are emitted into the atmosphere, the world as we know it isn’t sustainable and it is the responsibility of every single person on the planet to help to reduce emissions and create a greener world. According to the International Tourism Partnership, the tourism industry needs to reduce its carbon dioxide emissions by 66% by 2030. As people are becoming increasingly aware of green issues, we are seeing a massive rise in the number of tourists and travellers who are putting the ‘eco-friendliness’ of a hotel as one of the major factors in their choice of accommodation. Recycling in your hotel Although there are many ways that your hotel can help to look after the planet, one of the most impactful and easiest ways is by recycling as much material as possible. Materials that can be recycled include: Cardboard and paper Wood Glass Metals Electrical items Although many of us are used to recycling in our homes, recycling habits at work can be more difficult to change. Hotel recycling policies As with any workplace, the key to improving your recycling habits is through a good recycling policy. There are a number of ways that you can set or improve your hotel recycling policy. Make employees aware Part of getting your hotel recycling more is about making your staff aware that you are taking recycling seriously. This means communicating the measures that you are taking, with them, educating them about how important it is, making it easy for them to recycle and leading by example. Give them the tools they need Rightly or wrongly, it can be difficult for anyone to persuade their staff to recycle more when they are not given the tools to do so. Make waste paper bins as readily available as landfill bins and addcan and tin bins in the kitchen, for example. Get a waste audit When you get a recycling company, ask them to do a waste audit before you start. It might be that you are doing no recycling at all, or maybe think that you are doing well. A waste audit will tell you the truth about your recycling and is useful for both understanding what improvements can be made, as well as helping you track how your hotel is recycling more over time. Bale your cardboard Cardboard is one of the hotel industry’s most significant waste products – and also one that can be easily recycled. By compacting cardboard, you can reduce clutter, save space and then have it collected for recycling at a much lower price than having your normal waste collected. Image credit: https://www.qcr.co.uk/balers-compactors/cardboard-baler/ Update regularly Just as businesses are happy to share communications with regards to budget and finance, why not share information about your recycling efforts. Not only can this help to motivate and reward staff for their recycling efforts, it also shows that you are taking your policies and responsibilities seriously. Buy recycled Part of the responsibility of recycling includes buying recycled materials as well. Whether it is paper in the office, toilet roll, the plastic bottles used in complimentary toiletries, or even the soap itself, it is important to buy recycled. Internal recycling Not all recycling is about sending waste away. Try to recycle internally as well. This means taking measures such as using both sides of a sheet of paper, using refill soap dispensers, or trying to keep packaging to a minimum. Create a ‘green team’ It can be a good idea to create a ‘Green Team’ – a group of employees who can focus on instigating and maintaining your recycling policies, as well as motivating others to adhere to them. By creating a team of people from across the different roles in your hotel, they might be able to come up with other ways to improve your ‘green-ness’ and have less of an impact on the world. Tell everyone Having a reputation for being a hotel which takes recycling and sustainability seriously is important when it comes to potential customers. So, shout it loud and make sure that you tell everyone about how you are doing. It is important for everyone to be doing their bit to help save the world, and for hotels, improving their recycling is a great place to start. By trying to cut down on waste altogether, as well as recycling as much as possible, your hotel can help to preserve the environment that it is set in, save money and gain credibility among tourists. Ella Hendrix, a versatile freelance writer based in the UK