SPECIAL REPORT
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REVISIT PURCHASING PATTERNS
“ The way we look at it , everything that becomes waste is something we purchased ,” says Scandic ’ s Butani . By focusing on a product ’ s life cycle , from ordering to usage to disposal , the Stockholm-based company ’ s properties have made a huge dent in the amount of waste they produce .
All keys to shrinking the discard pile : Look at how products arrive — are they overly packaged or delivered in nonrecyclable materials ? Observe whether the right amount is ordered and served
It ’ s good to have a waste champion on the team , but unless everyone from the general manager to the maintenance staff is behind the goal and the plan to achieve it , the results are likely to disappoint .
During a sustainability hackathon last year , Scandic Hotels asked teams of employees to brainstorm ideas for environmental and social sustainability . or used , and , especially for perishable items , where they go once they ’ ve served their purposes .
Packaging is a challenge . Often health authorities determine that foods must arrive a certain way , or industry standards dictate heavy reliance on plastics .
“ You have to have a conversation with your suppliers and ask if they can deliver products in something that can be reused ,” Considerate Hoteliers ’ Hohenlohe says . If they won ’ t budge , she says , maybe it ’ s time to find a new supplier .
ENLIST THE WHOLE TEAM
“ About 400 ideas were submitted . Now I have a pool of ideas that I couldn ’ t have sat down and written myself ,” says Butani . It also has resulted in a more engaged , sustainably “ woke ” crew .
Each Six Senses property has a sustainability manager , charged with rotating across departments to bang the drum and support efforts . Employees are encouraged to share local customs for using or repurposing materials at hand . “ A lot of solutions can come from traditional knowledge ,” Smith says . “ We say , ‘ Go home and ask your grandma what she used to do with these materials ,’ and we ’ ve actually learned quite a bit .” In the Maldives , for instance , Six Senses employs a local method for tapping palm sugar from coconut trees , which can replace imported sugar and its requisite packaging .
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DON ’ T SKIMP ON TRAINING
Getting to zero waste involves redefining waste , which means education . “ When I visit hotels , I say we want to reimagine waste materials as just materials ,” Six Senses ’ Smith says . “ What purpose can we find for those materials ?”
Getting the message across can cause some cultural adjustment . A starting point for a zero-waste commitment would mean training staff to separate types of waste . “ Having those four or five bins at different parts of the back of house is a way to make sure the staff is thinking about it and doing it ,” Smith says .
Sometimes it means “ reprogramming ” employees .
“ When you have ingrained service standards that include offering guests a straw with their drink , you have to reverse that way of thinking ,” says Brittany Price , MGM Resorts ’ director of sustainable operations .
26 hotelsmag . com January / February 2020