How the Hotel Industry Can Cut Waste for Good

The Sustainable Hospitality Alliance states that the hotel industry needs to cut its carbon emissions 66% by 2030* if the world is to meet its carbon footprint commitments. It’s such a significant reduction in a relatively short timescale that it can feel off-putting. Where to begin? The trick is to focus on what you can control, and one of the most impactful controllable factors is waste management. The good news is that by taking a moment to consider a few switches, you’re likely to be doing your bit for the planet and your bottom line.

The hospitality industry has been in a difficult position over the past few years. Most businesses in the sector have been seriously disrupted by the Covid pandemic, particularly through enforced closures caused by national and local lockdowns, and the return to a kind of new normal – where everyone needs to accept living with the day-to-day impacts of Covid – hasn’t been straightforward.

In some cases, it’s also made eco-friendly sustainability goals harder to attain, increasing the amount of cleaning products used, generating more waste disposal through usage of PPE such as masks and gloves and promoting an easy reliance on single-use plastics.

Quick money-saving, planet-friendly waste wins

That last point is a particular issue in hotel bathrooms, where plastic-wrapped cups, toiletry and water bottles are still common. It’s also a great starting point for addressing recycling and waste. Some hotels keep a record of the provided items thrown away in rooms so that they can combat their biggest sources of waste, but even without that history, washable, reusable glasses, tap water and refillable soap and shampoo dispensers are automatic money and carbon savers for the hospitality industry. And a necessary one too: UK hotels generate around 290,000 tonnes of waste every year*. 

Not all of that comes from rooms. In fact, one estimate suggests that a large proportion of waste disposed of by hotels is recyclable paper and cardboard* from across the site. That’s easily addressed with the right recycling bin in offices and operational areas. And while the waste that guests create themselves can’t be directly influenced, one positive option could be to provide separate, in-room general waste and mixed recycling bins, along with helpful supporting information.

However, there’s no need to laboriously sort out waste streams for your recycling programme, either – at Hills Waste Solutions, our recycling services include collecting dry, mixed materials, such as paper, cardboard, plastic bottles and tin cans. We can do the sorting for you.

Facing up to food waste

Throughout the hospitality and food service sector, leftover food waste is a serious problem, with hotels alone believed to contribute nearly 80,000 tonnes of food waste annually*. Much like the shift from single-use toiletry bottles to refillable dispensers, an obvious, fixable area in which many hotels are habitually wasting food is the buffet dining system. Particularly common at breakfasts, where guests, keen to believe they’re getting their money’s worth, pile plates high, creating substantial quantities of leftover food. Moving to a menu-based, made-to-order approach could be both more balance-sheet and environmentally friendly.

Equally, addressing the purchasing and management of food and ingredients can play a big part in meeting financial and sustainability targets. By working to buy smaller quantities of ingredients more regularly, making smart use of everything that’s available in the kitchen and paying attention to portion size, it’s possible to beat some of the spiralling food costs UK hoteliers are dealing with today. Better still, some UK restaurants and hotels are taking note of what leftovers are returned on diners’ plates and even weighing their food waste every day to ensure they’re making the best use of every last morsel.