...PRIME MOVERS PRACTICE INDIA’S 1ST COMPANY TO PRODUCE PLASTIC TILES OUT OF PLASTIC WASTE Shayna...

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Vol. 3 ISSUE 5 May 2019

SWM AND RESPONSI-BILITIES OF HOTELIERS

GREEN HOTEL? ARE YOU ONE, YET?

WHAT IS YOURHOTEL DOING ON 5TH JUNE 2019?

WHICH HOTEL WON THE “INVESTING IN PEOPLE AWARD”

EVER THOUGHT OF RECYCLING LEFTOVER SOAP BARS?

Think you are well aware of all the buzz in

the green hotel industry? Guessing this

one should not be a task!

Hilton hotels new initiative focuses on recycling one million bars of soap

leftover by guests. Read their idea here...

Learn from environmentalist - Saudamini

Sharma the recent changes in solid

management rules and how the hospitality

industry has been affected by it.

Here are 10 beginner level green

practices that your hotel can practice

to start your eco-conscious

journey.

Look Out For The Announcement of 2019 GreenOtels Award

www.greenotels.com

PRECEDENT

PERSPECTIVE POSSIBILITY

PLANET POST

May Issue 2019

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Vol. 3 ISSUE 5 May 2019 |


“The Jevons Paradox.”

What drives this lag in adoption of sustainability best practices in the hotel industry? Could it be a lack of education? A lack of resources? A lack of concern?

Recent research published at Cornell found that eco-certified hotels consume fewer resources on a per-square-foot basis than their non-certi-fied peers, but more resources on a per-occu-pied-room basis. What is the hotel staff doing that would limit the potential benefits of an eco-certi-fied hotel?

A possible explanation may be rooted in the Jevons Paradox: awareness of a hotel’s efficiency initiatives beckons careless resource consump-tion. Knowing that a hotel is full of sustainability features may lead guests and staff to believe they can be less proactive and still achieve the same level of environmental benefit. A few examples:

• A hotel upgrades its washers and dryers to EnergyStar-rated appliances, but then forgoes investing in linen-less tables for its event spaces since laundry is now less ecologically detrimental• A hotel installs low-flow fixtures and aerators in all guestroom bathrooms, but housekeepers then decide to run water the entire time they’re clean-ing (rather than on and off as needed) to save time when cleaning and rinsing• A hotel upgrades to LED lighting in its fitness center, but then changes its operational strategy from turning off lights whenever the fitness center is vacant to leaving lights burning 24 / 7 to make the fitness center appear more welcoming• A hotel adds recycling bins in its lobby, but then

Our aim has been to make GreenOtels ascollaborative as possible, believing that a

diversity of perspectives enriches the work.we have reached out to experts, to

professionals and promoters in hospitality aswell as companies engaged in sustainable

development to help make the big shifttowards a sustainable future.

KNOWLEDGE ASSOCIATES Bharat Malkani, E.C. FHRAI

CB Ramkumar, Our Native VillageGarish Oberoi, President, FHRAI

Niranjan Khatri, iSambhavParam Kanampilly, Concept Hospitality

Sanjay Sethi, ITC HotelsSteve Borgia, President, ESOI

ADVISORY PANELAmitab Tyagi, The Taj Hotels

Arun Bahadur, The Oberoi HotelsAshish Rakheja, AEON Consultants

HC Vinayaka, ITC HotelsSanjeev Saxena, DLF Home Developers

Shankareswaran Jayaraj, RelianceSunil Relia, JLL Building Operations

Vikram Choubal, Marriott International

BENGALURUBhaskar Masineni, The Leela Palace

Jagadish Itagi, The Ritz CarltonMurali Panicker, Taj BangaloreRavindra Singh, ITC Gardenia

CHENNAIN Ramamoorthy, ITC Grand Chola Hotel

HYDERABADAshok Hemrajani, Minerva Group

Sharique Khurshid, Taj KrishnaDELHI

Anil Kumar, The ImperialRahul Prabhakar, ITC Maurya

Rothin Banerjee, Taj PalaceSuman Majumder, Hyatt Regency

JAIPURM Kannan, Oberoi Rajvilas

Ranjeet Yadav, ITC RajputanaAnupam Vivek, Jai Mahal Palace

MUMBAIAjay Nayak, ITC Maratha

Neeraj Kaushik, RenaissanceNilesh Mhatre, JW Marriott

Prashant Pawar, Oberoi Hotels & ResortsPrashant Vaidya, Hotel Sofitel

PURPOSE, POLICIES, PROGRESS. WHAT ELSE DO GREENHOTELIERS NEED? According to non-profit organisation Green Hotel World, Asia is the worst performing continent, with only 0.9 per cent of its hotels certified by a third party as “green”.

For instance -TripAdvisor’s Green Leaders programme, ac-tive in 66 markets worldwide, has no partici-pating hotels in the city state.Ethical booking website Bookdifferent.com, for example, does not list any eco-certified hotels for Singapore.

Travel metasearch engine Kayak has an “eco-friendly” filter and, according to Jason Yeung, the company’s head of marketing and PR for Asia-Pacific, hotels falling into that category include those that save water and energy through optional, non-daily linen refreshment, serve locally sourced food, offer bikes for transport and make efforts to reduce waste, elec tricity usage and carbon foot-prints. However, the company does not guar-antee that properties classified as ‘eco-friend-ly’ have all of these specific features.

This simply means that along with having financial and policy sensibility, hotel owners, especially the ones who are yet to join the green community need motivation and ideas from ‘real hotel owners of change.’ In India, even at the highest level, as of now, what a hotel can do and has done is - switch to LED light bulbs, key entry-driven lighting, and re-duced turnover of towels and linens. Although these efforts generate cost savings and matter to the environment, the investments in many spheres are limited compared to what is being committed in residential and in new construction particularly in office buildings.

While the last issue of GreenOtels largely focused at initiatives of Indian hoteliers cele-brating world water day 2019, look for inspi-ration across the globe in this one. P

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proceeds to hand out even larger quantities of plastic water bottles to guests

Lessening a certain behavior’s environmental damage does not necessarily create a net positive outcome if it causes more instances of that same damaging behavior, or brings about new, related behaviors that are equally harmful.

So, what would William Stanley Jevons have to say about all this?

Sustainability innovation that continues to enable harmful behavior is a self-defeating exercise. In-novation must be followed with continued educa-tion, measurement, and accountability all the way through the system.

Jevons’ recommendation? Don’t use improved efficiency as an excuse for careless consump-tion. One of the reasons why several eco-certified hotels did not score high at the GreenOtels Award this year.

For Owners and Operators:

Awareness of this issue can help us identify and mitigate it in our hotels. Try not to settle for mak-ing harmful activities less harmful, and instead search for possibilities to eliminate harmful activ-ities altogether. Help staff and guests be allies in this mission by educating them on the property’s sustainability initiatives and the behaviors they ne-cessitate. For example, simple signage can work wonders, and does not detract from the guest experience when done right.

It’s possible to fall into the trap of perceived trade offs when it comes to sustainability, thinking that sustainability will only come at the expense of guest satisfaction, staff efficiency, online rankings, focused branding, and most importantly, financial performance. However, hotel sustainability is not a balancing act between responsible operations and financial performance, but rather between responsible operations and human nature.

Write in at [email protected]

Minakshi Agarwal

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HOTELS IN SPAIN POWER UP FOR AN ECO-FRIENDLY FUTURE

MELUHA THE FERN CELEBRATES EARTH DAY

MAKEMYTRIP’S GOGREEN DRIVE HELPS PLANT ONE MILLION TREES

Across Spain, hotels are prominently flagging their green credentials as they increasingly take steps to reduce their environmental foot-print and appeal to eco-aware consumers.

The country’s state-run hotels in historic buildings such as former palaces and mon-asteries are the latest to look to a greener future, switching to renewable energy sources by incorporating features such as biomass technology or solar panels. Such a move is in line with Spain’s eco-ambitions to provide electricity through renewable sources by 2050 as part of its efforts to shift to a lower carbon economy.

For Spain’s many hotels, improving their eco-credentials is about more than using sus-tainability as a selling point through plaques at hotel receptions or on websites; it’s an important building block for the future of an industry that’s key to the country’s long-term economic success.

MakeMyTrip - India’s leading online travel company has successfully supported planta-tion of one million trees through MakeMyTrip Foundation in Rajasthan’s Rajsamand and Udaipur districts as part of its efforts to sup-port responsible travel. The drive has been carried out in partnership with Seva Mandir, a leading nonprofit organization that works with local communities on development projects, especially focusing on sustainability.

MakeMyTrip’s GoGreen initiative is a 360-de-gree drive that aims to promote responsible travel and environmental sustainability by involving all stakeholders including custom-ers, employees, and local communities. The tree plantation effort covering 2,350 hectares of land has been carried out with the contri-bution made by customers to MakeMyTrip foundation each time they have booked their flights and hotels on the platform.

Meluha The Fern collaborated with Godrej & Boyce in precedence to Earth Day - support-ing the theme of “protect our species.”

Mr. Laxmikant Deshpande (Manager-wet-land management & Sustainability), Godrej & Boyce conducted an insightful session on mangrove conservation for the Green team at Meluha the Fern. The team also visited the sustainably managed 1750 acre man-grove forest on the western bank of Thane creek. The nature walk was awe-inspiring and offered a deep understanding of diversity, the importance of mangroves and our own role in mangrove conservation. P

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INDIA’S 1ST COMPANY TO PRODUCE PLASTIC TILES OUT OF PLASTIC WASTE

Shayna EcoUnified India Pvt. Ltd. has been incorporated with the intent to reduce the dumping of plastics in the environment, creating affordable structural materials from the plastic waste and thus creating a better tomorrow for the generations to come. This has been possible through a golden hand-shake with the Council of Scientific & Industri-al Research (CSIR)-National Physical Labora-tory’s (NPL), with whom this technology was developed, tested and certified for usage in multiple applications.

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is able to turn plastics into high performance materials in the form of tiles and blocks. These materials are weather resistant, chip resistant, acid proof, durable and offer better structural stability at a lower cost as com-pared to conventional materials in addition to protecting the environment from plastic dumping.

Daily plastic waste from various NGOs, rag pickers, various residential and commercial establishments like schools, colleges, shop-ping malls are collected, which becomes the raw material. Hotels too can associate with this initiative in two ways - 1. By providing plastic waste generated in the hotel

2. By creatively using the tiles in hotel premises, thus supporting green practices

600 plastic bags are converted into 1 tile of 12”X12”.50,400 plastic bags = 64 tiles = 1 Eco Unifying Smart Toilet

“The choices that we make today will define our collective future. The choices may not be easy. But through awareness, technology, and a gen-uine global partnership, I am sure we can make the right choices. Let us all join together to beat plastic pollution and make this planet a better place to live.”

— Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of India

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PRECEDENT HO-TELS THAT ARE ADDRESSING CLI-MATE CONCERNS

JW MARRIOTT - US TO LAUNCH NEW APPAREL COLLECTION AND GARMENT RECYCLING PRO-GRAM THIS MAY

Saving Coral Reefs

The 114-room Conrad Bora Bora Nui resort in French Polynesia has developed 17 differ-ent underwater coral structures around its resort with the mindset to regenerate them. This is done using a “Biorock” technique (passing a low-voltage current through elec-trodes in the water) developed by the marine biologist Denis Schneider. The process is currently considered among the best ways to fight coral mortality.

Sebastien Pisano, the hotel’s general manag-er said that he has seen a significant increase in the amount of coral around the resort, and this now spans a half acre.Guests of the resort can take part in a free snorkeling coral reef experience.

The Mayakoba region in Riviera Maya, Mexi-co, is filled with lagoons and mangroves, and one luxury property there attempts to offer ecotourism experiences to guests. Fairmont Mayakoba, in alliance with a nongovern-mental organization called Oceanus A.C., arranges a snorkel tour for $49 per person to underwater nurseries near the Puerto Morales national park area, where guests gather acro-pora palmata (a type of Caribbean reef-build-ing coral) detached by the force of the marine current. With assistance of the tour leader, they help transplant the coral to the sea bot-tom to ensure it is able to continue its growth.

Energy and Water Conservation

All of the water drunk and used at Jade Mountain in St. Lucia draws from a river in the Anse Mamim valley; the resort filters and conditions it in a treatment facility. The resort also designed open-air rooms to allow natu-ral breezes to cool the areas, eliminating the need for air-conditioning.

Solmar Hotels and Resorts in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, heats water (including in its pools) using photo-thermal panels.

Hostelling International USA became the first hostel company in the world to implement “smart showers” that limits showering time to seven minutes. The company plans to roll out more than 750 showers across its 50 properties, each with colorful LED lights to gently alert guests that time’s up. “If each guest showers for 30 seconds less, we save around one million gallons of water each year,” said Netanya Trimboli, the Hostelling International’s marketing director.

Kudadoo, a private resort island in the Maldives, became the first fully energy-sus-tainable property there, using solar panels designed into the roof of its main building, The Retreat. This energy source is able to fully power the island.

The 99-room Svart, on the Helgeland coast-line in Norway, will open by 2022 as the world’s first net energy positive hotel above the polar circle. The entire hotel is powered by solar panels; excess energy is saved for when the country has more darkness than light-filled days.

“We have also removed materials that con-sume more energy, including concrete, and focused on wood, natural stone or glass,” said Ivaylo Lefterov, the project manager.

Preserving Food & Repurposing Waste

The Spectator Hotel in Charleston, S.C., recently established a food waste diversion program where half-eaten food items such as fruit and pastries are put into a digester that turns them into reusable water. “From the program’s initial launch in August 2018, the hotel has diverted over 11,234.5 pounds

JW Marriott properties in the U.S. will partic-ipate in a unique garment-recycling program managed by Cintas that responsibly reuses the brand’s retired uniform line.

of food waste from landfill while creating 944 gallons of water,” said the general manager Carlo Carroccia.

The Inn at Dos Brisas in Washington, Tx., won an industry award for its efforts in envi-ronmental sustainability, for composting the waste products of the inn’s equestrian facility on a large scale and reviving the once-de-pleted land. Combined with tree branches, this creates an organic fertilizer later sold at farmers’ markets.

Creating Eco-Minded Communities

Two Arlo hotels in New York City currently offer free monthly talks about sustainabil-ity, across various industries, with the aim of forming a community for eco-conscious travelers. The next one in SoHo on May 15 explains wild harvesting, ethnobotany and how to lead a green lifestyle.

JW Marriott’s garment recycling program, which takes place through May 31, 2019, will be available across 26 JW Marriott ho-tels based in the U.S. Through this sustain-able program, hotels will collect the retired uniforms in the boxes used to ship the new garments, each capable of holding 25-30 pounds of textiles. Once received by Cintas, the uniform provider will work with Leigh Fibers, Inc. to shred garments and repurpose the remaining fibers for future use.Prior to the debut, Cintas worked closely with JW Marriott to solicit hotel associate feed-back regarding wardrobe design concepts to ensure that each piece was both functional and fashionable. Drawing inspiration from JW Marriott’s brand color palette, the collection incorporates neutral greys with accents of a warm blush present throughout a variety of silhouettes including soft blouses, tailored suites and sophisticated printed dresses.P

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PORTOLA HOTEL & SPA CONTINUES COMMITMENT TO SUSTAINABILITY WITH REDUCED WASTE CONFERENCE

Located on the Monterey Peninsula and surrounded by the natural beauty of Northern California, Portola Hotel & Spa has always taken pride in the environment, making a con-scious effort to support the green initiatives of the community in addition to implementing eco-friendly initiatives at the hotel. The hotel is dedicated to hosting successful and effective Reduced Waste Conferences and does so by requiring a commitment from the hotel, the meeting planners, and attendees of the conference.

Portola’s Reduced Waste Conference Com-mitment Focus-

• Create awareness about the Reduced Waste Conference to attendees through Passkey/Group Reservation System and key packets at check-in;• Environmentally friendly vendor and exhibit company suggestions;• Source organic and sustainable ingredients from local farmers and vendors throughout Monterey County and keep compost on the farm (reduces carbon footprint);• Utilization of china, glassware, and silver-ware replacing the use of to-go cups;• Track daily waste diverted by the Kitchen, Housekeeping, and Banquet departments;• Composting of pre and post-consumer waste;• Additional assistance provided by Banquets to separate recyclable and compostable ma-terials from going to the landfill; and• Post-meeting recap including waste divert-ed from landfill, list of local farmers and pur-veyors where food was sourced, and carbon footprint analysis to be provided via e-mail by the Catering & Conference Services Manager.• Educate and encourage attendees to par-ticipate in sustainability practices while at the conference.

SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT RULES, 2016 AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF HOTELSMunicipal Solid Waste (Management & Han-dling) Rules, 2000, was revised after 16 years and many ‘sweeping’ changes were made. The new Rule is called Solid Waste Manage-ment Rules, 2016.

Difference between the Rules One of the major changes in the Rule was the

name itself. By removing Municipal from the name, the inclusions of types of wastes were widened. Now, three types of waste – Bio-de-gradable, Non-Biodegradable and Domestic Hazardous Waste is included in the rule. Not only this, the earlier Rule was mostly appli-cable for the Municipalities, since they were the agencies responsible for ‘Managing and Handling’ Municipal Waste. Now under the new Rule, the onus has been put on Every Waste Generator.

How does this affect the Hotel Industry? The SWM Rules, 2016, talks about Hotels especially. Hotels are identified as one of the bulk waste generators in the Rule and their duties as waste generator have been defined. Clause 4, point 8 of the Rule states – “All hotels and restaurants shall, within one year from the date of notification of these rules and

in partnership with the local body ensure seg-regation of waste at source as prescribed in these rules, facilitate collection of segregated waste in separate streams, handover recy-clable material to either the authorised waste pickers or the authorised recyclers. The bio-degradable waste shall be processed, treated and disposed off through composting or bio-methanation within the premises as far as possible. The residual waste shall be given to the waste collectors or agency as directed by the local body.”

Types of solid waste generated from Hotels • Bio-degradable – Food Waste, Vegetable, and Fruit peelings and cuttings, Trimmings from Meat and Fish, Paper, Cardboard, Gar-den Waste & Wood.

• Non-biodegradable but Recyclable – Glass, Aluminium Cans and Foil, Tins, Plastic and Steel

• Domestic hazardous waste – Batteries (Single Use and Rechargeable), Paint Cans, Cleaning Agent (such as Bleach) containers, etc.

What can hotels do? Simple steps that can actually help in Waste Management along with Compliance with the Rules-

• The good old spreadsheet - As Peter Drucker stated –‘What gets measured gets managed’. The most important aspect of Waste Management is access to data. If you have already partnered with Recycling Agencies, they will be able to give you the breakdown of waste that is being collected. This helps in identifying the budget of waste collection and the areas where overuse might be occurring.

• Segregate and dispose – Setting up a uni-form system of segregation reduces the time and labour spent in segregating later. For ex-ample, the three bins - green (for biodegrad-able waste), white (for recyclable waste) and black (for other waste), as stated by the SWM Rule, can be put in work areas like kitchen, guest rooms, and restaurants. Tip - Don’t start sorting and storing until you have identi-fied and appointed a company to recover the sorted material. • The organic waste converter on premise –

Having an Organic Waste Converter on the premise is a requirement of the Rule. And it also makes sense, since the compost thus produced can be utilized in the landscape. With more advanced converters now avail-able, the time of compost production has been reduced considerably.

• Embracing the Circular Economy – The Circular Economy is based on the principles of Repair, Reduce, Recycle and Reuse in contrast to the Linear Economy of Make, Use and Dispose. The principles of Circular Economy can be best utilized by hotels in their Waste Management. For example, the Procurement Policy can be designed to look for opportunities for lease instead of buying.

Conclusion Realizing the money saving potential as well as compliance with the Rules, many hotels have already started waste management practices, such as recycling used vegetable oil, making compost, buying local. A look at customer review sites like responsibletravel.com or TripAdvisor shows that Responsible tourism is the buzzword and customers do take note of the efforts of the hotels.

Saudamini Sharma in an environment profes-sional with experience in the field of Environ-mental Research and Consultancy. She has experience in Energy and Climate Change, EIA, Gender and Energy, Bio-fuels, Rural sanitation, solid waste management etc. She started her career with a research project in IIT -Delhi and has worked in IRADe and Ener-gy and Sustainable Development division of British High Commission, New Delhi. P

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FOUR SEASONS RESORT MALDIVES SAVES 300,000 LITRES OF DIESEL AND 800 TONS OF CO2 ANNUALLY

HILTON HOTELS FOCUS ON RECYCLING ONE MILLION BARS OF SOAP

TEN BEGINNER LEVEL IDEAS TO INITIATE GREEN PRACTICES AT YOUR HOTEL

Four Seasons Resort Maldives at Landaa Gi-raavaru connected its first RoofSolar inverter, and in doing so turned on one of the Mal-dives’ largest resort-based solar installations.

The ambitious project comprises 3,105 pan-els and spans 5,380 square metres (58,000 square feet) – the roof surface of the staff village – and has been installed by Swimsol, specialists in tropical coastal-region solar sys-

Hilton Garden Inn, Hampton by Hilton and All Suites brands are launching the Clean the World Challenge in partnership with Clean the World, a global health leader dedicated to sustainability and water, sanitization and health. Embassy Suites by Hilton, Hilton Garden Inn, Hampton by Hilton, Homewood Suites by Hilton and Home2 Suites by Hilton will challenge hotel owners and Team Mem-bers to collect bars of soap left behind by guests to be recycled into 1 million bars of new soap by Global Handwashing Day, which is October 15 for Clean the World to distrib-ute to communities in need.

Through its soap recycling partnership with Clean the World, Hilton has contributed to the distribution of more than 7.6 million bars of recycled soap, resulting in more than 2 million pounds of soap and amenity bottles being diverted from landfills. The discarded soap is crushed, sanitized and cut into new soap bars. Bathroom amenity bottles are repurposed for hygiene kits or recycled. By recycling these products, Clean the World provides soap to those in need, ultimately preventing diseases and reducing mortality rates around the world.

Clean the World was founded in 2009 with a mission to save lives while simultaneous-ly protecting the environment by providing recycled soap and other hygienic products to families in need. Over the last decade, the organization has contributed toward a 60 percent reduction in the death rate of children under the age of five dying due to hygiene-re-lated illnesses. Hilton has worked with Clean the World since its launch to help overcome this epidemic in various countries, as well as in times of natural disasters.

In recent years, tourism and hospitality indus-tries have aimed to go eco-friendly. Hotels are already doing a lot more than just placing notes in bathrooms that remind guests to reuse their towels. Among the changes are technological upgrades that include installing motion sensors in rooms that automatically turn off lights and air-conditioning, low-flow toilets and shower heads installation, solar panel installations etc. Hotels are looking at it going green as a way to connect with guests by talking about green practices, as well as cost-cutting measures. However, if you are new to the trend of establishing a sustainable hotel, below are a few ideas that you can start with-

• Opt for swimming pools that are sa-line-based and are maintained using minerals, not chemicals.

• Add recycling stations to your property

• Fix bulk shampoo bottles in showers

• Use furniture made from recycled materials • For landscaping, use indigenous and low-water plants are favored

• Incentivise the use of glass cups instead of disposable coffee cups

• Get rid of plastic straws and stirrers

• Reward reuse of linen

• Install motion sensors in rooms that auto-matically turn off lights and air-conditioning

• Promote local art and artisans

tems. It is estimated that the new solar set-up will produce (and save) between 900,000 and 1.1 million kWh of energy every year and save between 250,000 and 300,000 litres (55,000-66,000 gallons) of diesel, which corresponds to 650-800 tons of CO2.

What do the figures mean?

Putting this data into tangible real-world ex-amples, the annual savings equate to power-ing all 103 of Landaa’s luxurious guest rooms, villas, and suites for 32 days or charging one of the Resort’s eco-friendly electric golf cars more than 82,000 times.

In daily terms, it’s the daily equivalent of pow-ering 15 Villas for 24 hours; applying reverse osmosis technology to 540 cubic metres (19,000 cubic feet) of water at the Resort’s onsite desalination plant; or washing and dry-ing 3,350 kilograms (7,400 pounds)of laundry.

Finally, looking at the diesel-saving ability, the annual figure equates to driving around the world 94 times – with the corresponding an-nual CO2 reduction eliminating the emissions of 544 flights between London to Male.

In addition, Landaa runs one of the Maldives’ leading centres of marine conservation and research, working in partnership with local and national environmental agencies and em-ploying 10 full-time marine biologists to de-liver pioneering activities every day including turtle rehabilitation, coral propagation, manta research, sustainable fish breeding, anemone mapping, dolphin ID and more. P

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ITY“We don’t know the exact timing or the magnitude of the global

warming threat. We know it’s a problem. We know it’s huge. We know we can’t stop it. We have to wake up Europe, and wake up America, and wake up the whole world to realize that we have a common destiny and what’s at stake. Let’s lead the whole world to realize this is not your normal political challenge. This is much bigger. This is life itself. It requires courage and imagination.”

— Jerry Brown, Governor of California in a speech at the United Nations conference on climate change

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ORCHID MUMBAI’S JOURNEY OF BEING GREEN!

WTTC ANNOUNCES WINNERS OF THE 2019 TOURISM FOR TOMORROW AWARDS

Orchid Mumbai has made it a part of their culture, vision, values and brand to adopt sustainability; which is seen in thoughtful details in architecture and everyday guest touch points such as linen usage, in-room waste management and water conservation. Environment education is a part of employee induction with regular trainings to help them adopt programmes and also be involved with community projects.

Programmes extends to guests, as the eco initiatives and how they can make a difference

is communicated, when they are welcomed.

A simple, but effective, way to edge guests towards water conservation has been the introduction of “Save My Planet Card” which is kept on the beds and guests can decide if they want wasteful change of linen every day, or opt for a more eco-friendly option of reusing the linen.

The Orchid Mumbai is one among the only six hotels worldwide to win and maintain the Ecotel certification and till date has received over 97 national and international awards, reiterating their efforts of being a pioneer amongst environment friendly hotels.It’s not just the environmental and govern-ment organizations that are noticing their efforts. Guests love it too and the same is reflected in their growing segment of loyal and returning customers.

The 5 winners were selected from 15 finalists, across 5 different award categories. A total of 183 applications entered the 2019 awards, across both large, and small tourism busi-nesses, suppliers, and destinations.

Now in their 15th year, the Tourism for To-morrow Awards, showcase the world’s most inspiring sustainable travel organisations, and aim to recognise best practice in sustainable tourism.

The awards are based on the 3 principles of: • environmentally friendly operations; • support for the protection of cultural and natural heritage; • and direct benefits to the social and eco-nomic well-being of local people in global travel destinations.

The 5 winners of the 2019 Tourism for Tomor-row Awards are:

Climate Action Award: for organisations undertaking significant and measurable work to reduce the scale and impact of climate change.

WINNER: Bucuti & Tara Beach Resort, ArubaFINALIST: The Brando, Tetiaroa Private Island, P

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French Polynesia FINALIST: Tourism Holdings Limited, New Zealand

Investing in People Award: for organisations demonstrating leadership in becoming an exciting, attractive, and equitable employer in the sector.

WINNER: Lemon Tree Hotels Limited, India FINALIST: Reserva do Ibitipoca, Brazil FINALIST: Shanga by Elewana Collection, Tanzania

Destination Stewardship Award: for organ-isations helping a place to thrive and bring forward its unique identity for the benefit of its residents and tourists.

WINNER: St. Kitts Sustainable Destination Council, St. Kitts and Nevis FINALIST: Grupo Rio da Prata, Jardim and Bonito, Brazil FINALIST: Masungi Georeserve, Philippines

Social Impact Award: for organisations work-ing to improve the people and places where they operate.

WINNER: Awamaki, Peru FINALIST: Intrepid Group, Australia FINALIST: Nikoi Island, Indonesia

Change makers Award: this year focused on organisations fighting the illegal wildlife trade through sustainable tourism.

WINNER: SEE Turtles, USA FINALIST: Kelompok Peduli Lingkungan Be-litung (KPLB), IndonesiaFINALIST: The Cardamom Tented Camp, Cambodia

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GRAND HYATT - SINGAPORE TAKES THE BUSINESS OF SUSTAINIBILITY SERIOUSLY!

“THERE HAS TO BE FINANCIAL AND POLICY SENSIBILITY TO MOTIVATE THE HOTEL OWNERS TO CHANGE” - BY JASON PRICE, EVP, HEBS DIGITAL

Grand Hyatt produces between 3,000 and 5,000 meals per day, which makes it incred-ibly important that they provide accountable ingredients. The hotel started its sustain ability journey with seafood, becoming one of the first in the world to receive Chain of Custody Certification from the Marine Stewardship Council, meaning that the entire supply chain,

The hotel industry was an early adopter in embracing energy conservation and other earth friendly practices. However, sizable cap-ital investments like HVAC upgrades, energy generation, or smart materials in renovations exceeds the short-term revenue models for today’s hotel investor. As of now, what a hotel can do has been done - switch to LED light bulbs, key entry-driven lighting, and reduced turnover of towels and linens. Although these efforts generate cost savings and matter to the environment, the investments are limited compared to what is being committed in res-idential and in new construction particularly in office buildings

To spur actions require innovative and cre-ative financial solutions and smart policies. We cannot think along the lines of a universal carbon tax but rather sensible sector specific policies to protect and incentivize hotel in-vestors. A carbon tax has nothing to do with building energy efficiency especially with the people who design and build these buildings don’t pay the electric bills. Tightening building codes will prompt developers to build efficient buildings. Check out the work of Hotel Own-ers of Tomorrow who are raising awareness in early stages of the hotel project life cycle.

Any investment in a costly upgrade like for HVAC (heating, ventilation, and air condition-ing) should be supported by low interest, in-terest free, rebates, or financed through green bonds. Conversely bring back government subsidies on the purchase of systems with a SEER rating for efficiency higher than 16. A shared risk between buyer and seller on such upgrades could be another approach. Baked into the final purchase price is a shared pool to split the cost for the purchase which could be tax deductible.

There is no shortage of creativity when there is a profit motive. Any low interest or interest free loan backed by the government (state

from fisherman to restaurant, must be sus-tainable. The hotel has removed all shark fin, bluefin tuna and soft-shell crab from its menus. Certain preparations of soft-shell crab require cutting away the eye and mouth area while the creature is alive, which the hotel believes in not right.

Similarly, at Hyatt, a digester has been in-stalled in the base ment to process food waste into organic fertiliser. Through 300 metres of piping, each food preparation area in the hotel is connected to the machine. An enzyme is added to the food pulp, along with heat and recycled cardboard, and after 24 hours in the digester, the fertiliser is ready for the hotel’s gardens or to be sold. The digester prevents 400 tonnes of food waste going to landfill every year, saving the hotel about S$100,000 on removal costs, and 55,000 rubbish bags per year. The hotel has also become the first in the world to invest in a trigeneration plant, which produces 30 percent of its electricity and reduces carbon emissions by nearly 1,200 tonnes per year.

An organic farm on the other side of the Ma-laysian border, in the nearby Cameron High-lands, supplies cool-climate vegetables, low-ering the carbon footprint. Some food even comes from the roof of the Hyatt’s ballroom, which has been transformed into a garden.

THE MONGOLIAN MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENT AND TOURISM JOINS GLOBAL SUSTAINABLE TOURISM COUNCILAs the central government body who is in charge of tourism development policy and coordination in the country, the Ministry of Environment and Tourism devoted itself to implement effective and credible sustainable

tourism policies in Mongolia. The Ministry of Environment and Tourism of Mongolia and GSTC have signed in MOU for promoting sustainable development in tourism in Mon-golia through applying the GSTC Framework of Sustainable Tourism Development.

and federal) can help mitigate the costly impact. This method worked well for solar and EV purchases, now take it a step further. Maybe roof top solar on a hotel garage or carport will become standard if the payback can be significantly shortened. If energy resiliency is the issue then what role could a microgrid play in the hotel asset especial-ly if the energy generation is greener. What future hotel investor would not want to buy a hotel with a far reduced or zero utility bill or a resiliency plan in place? What other novel financial mechanisms can be applied so that every hotel can be part of a distributed ener-gy future?

The biggest impact in considering energy-re-lated matters applies primarily to new builds but should also be applied to the 60,000 ho-tels currently operating in the United States. Motivate energy efficient hotels as the most desirable for the investment community. With thoughtful pro- investment tax incentives for hotel owners, smart building codes for developers, and introduce sensible reforms to motivate change, energy-inefficient hotels will become far less desirable as more with effi-ciency and resiliency come to market. I think we can all live better with that.Source- hotelnewsresource.com

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Editor: Minakshi Agarwal. Editorial Contribution: Pooja AkulaPublished by Root Cause Mediaa, Bungalow 36, Block W, Opp LS Raheja College, Relief Road Santa Cruz (West), Mumbai 400 0054E: [email protected] P: 022 60660151 W: www.greenotels.com

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