Close up hand throwing empty plastic bottle into the trash Recycling Concept

When it comes to choosing a hotel, sustainability initiatives are now a serious consideration for travelers. According to the CleanRiver website, it has become crucial for hotels and resorts to reduce their energy consumption and increase their waste diversion. An effective recycling program can improve a hotel’s image and bottom line.

Important steps to create a hotel recycling program are:

Identify waste streams: To gain a better understanding of what types of waste streams your hotel is producing and which departments are generating them, it is important to start by conducting a waste audit. Completing an effective audit will provide a current waste diversion rate, identify different waste streams, where the most waste is being generated and what items can potentially be recycled or reused.

Tackle food waste: According to Reconomy, food waste accounts for more than 50 percent of waste in the hospitality industry. A hotel recycling program is one of the smartest choices a business can take to significantly increase the waste diversion rate.

Once you conduct your waste audit and have determined the amount of compostable waste your hotel is make sure your waste hauler has the proper equipment to accommodate the newly added compost stream.

Work with hotel suppliers and local vendors: Talk to your suppliers and get them on board with the sustainability initiatives. Once on board with the efforts, suppliers can adopt proactive practices.
 
Choose bins carefully: Understanding how much waste the hotel is producing, where it’s being generated, as well as the different types of waste being tossed, will help determine the recycling bin size, capacity and how many streams each station will need.

Use high-impact recycling bin graphics: Customizing the visual support for a recycling program will make a huge difference. Clear, concise graphics build program awareness, and when hotel guests and staff recycle correctly, stream contamination is vastly reduced.

Get staff engagement and participation: When it comes to a successful hotel recycling program the number one key component is staff engagement. Set company and departmental goals. Competitions create a fun atmosphere and positive buzz about new initiatives.