Top Five Ways to Improve Waste Handling and Promote Green Living in Hotels

On our own, we already produce a lot of waste at home every day. But in hotels, this amount quickly multiplies as doors never stop turning and a constantly changing set of guests come to stay. Without a doubt, providing guests with a cozy experience that makes them feel right at home requires constantly changing linen and towels, stocking up on supplies, cleaning, producing tons of waste in the process.

Naturally, proper waste management is very important in the hotel industry. Keeping rooms, hallways, and amenities clean means happy guests; add to that, the boundaries of hotel living are also being pushed by green technologies, much like in every industry today.

Thinking of ways to improve your guests’ stay? Follow these tips for improving waste management and saving energy in your hotel, and give your guests an eco-friendly home-away-from-home experience:

Rethink How Your Hotel Operates on a Daily Basis

This is understatedly important. Forget large functions and peak seasons, the majority of waste produced in hotels comes from day-to-day operations. These include serving meals and restocking supplies in guests’ rooms. But it’s time to change that.

For instance, you can improve every guest’s dining experience by consistently serving meals using china and dishware and avoiding disposable plates. Not only are plastic containers bad form for a luxurious stay, but making their use a habit can lead to fast accumulation of plastic waste and defeats the purpose of going green.

Other changes that can easily be implemented include setting water filters on every floor instead of stocking rooms with bottled water, minimizing the use of paper by limiting it to toilet paper, and switching out old light bulbs for energy-saving LED lights. It’s also a great idea to maintain an accurate inventory and efficient storage system for all types of supplies. For perishables, this leads to less spoilage, and as for supplies, this means using products well before they expire.

While small and simple at first, these little tweaks to the day-to-day operation of your hotel go a long way in minimizing the waste produced every day — and those add up over time.

Follow a Waste Segregation Protocol

We’re all encouraged to segregate waste and throw our trash in appropriate bins at all times, and your hotel shouldn’t be an exception. Gone are the days of just dumping waste in large dumpsters and waiting for a garbage disposal service to take them away. Today, everyone needs to do their part in proper waste disposal.

One of the easiest ways to do this is to set up different trash bins in rooms, common areas, and amenities. This can be useful in encouraging guests to throw their trash properly, whether it’s food waste, recyclable items, or non-recyclables. With food waste being the most common and largest waste item in hotels, it’s important to have a biodegradables handling system to properly dispose of all this.

Using a mixed waste garbage bin, you can easily store all similar trash together in one place for easier collection and disposal. These commercial-grade bins come in different sizes, each suited to the size of your hotel’s operations. Plus, many providers also offer collection and disposal services, so all you have to do is get all the trash in one place. As you head into peak seasons or large events, make sure to also schedule additional waste pick-ups and set up additional bins for fast and efficient waste handling, no matter how much there is to dispose of.

Opt for Eco-Friendly Alternatives

We’re heading towards a green revolution now, and that means eco-friendly alternatives for products you know and trust are now becoming widely available. For instance, if your hotel is undergoing construction for renovation or expansion, or you’re simply booking a small refurbishment job to polish some nooks and crannies, consider switching to sustainable building materials. These items can be easily handled and recycled, so you’re throwing out less and repurposing what can still be reused.

If you’re preparing for a large function that requires disposable cutlery and food containers, consider switching to recyclable or compostable options, so you can cut down on single-use plastics that end up in landfills. As for cleaning, opt for products made with safe and eco-friendly contents, so waste disposal won’t cause a toxic mess. Additionally, consider the amount of packaging that these products use and take that into account when planning for waste disposal; you can even make arrangements with suppliers to return the crates, boxes, and containers to them so that these can be reused.

Conduct a Regular Waste Assessment

There’s no better way to ensure that your hotel is making headway with going green than by conducting a regular audit of waste output. Regular assessments can help your waste disposal team track the amount of waste collected and recycled. With reduced use of single-use plastic and proper segregation, you should see positive trends in the carbon footprint of your hotel.

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