The Considerate Hoteliers Association has announced that WRAP (the Waste & Resources Action Programme) will sponsor its annual 'Environmentally Responsible Hotel of the Year' Award. 

Hotels play an important role in reducing the amount of waste sent to landfill, owing to the significant amount of waste they generate - on average, each hotel creates around 1kg of waste per guest per night.  However, at least 30% of a hotel's solid waste stream can be sorted for recovery and recycling, and some hotels sort up to 50% of their waste.

Hotels can also influence their guests' behaviour through waste minimisation messages which can be taken home. The 'Environmentally Responsible Hotel of the Year' award will help demonstrate the range of initiatives which hotels in the UK are taking to reduce the amount of waste they dispose of and the associated costs.

Hotels applying to be considered for the award will be asked to demonstrate either that they are implementing programmes which cover the full spectrum of the waste chain, from initial purchasing to final disposal, or that they are taking a particularly innovative approach to one element of waste minimisation (from stimulating the development of recycling services to designing and refurbishing hotel rooms with recycled/recyclable materials). 

WRAP's sponsorship of this award demonstrates the important role that this sector can play in helping the UK achieve its recycling targets.  It also helps show that, in the light of increasing waste disposal costs, hotels which implement a comprehensive approach to waste minimisation can often reduce their costs significantly and - in most cases - enhance the quality of the guest experience.

Alongside the WRAP sponsored award, Considerate Hoteliers will continue to offer hotels which are making a considerable contribution to their community and local environment the opportunity to apply to be considered for the accolade of 'Considerate Hotel of the Year' Award.

The 'Environmentally Responsible Hotel of the Year' award will be presented by Jennie Price, Chief Executive of WRAP, at the annual Master Innholders General Managers Conference on 16th - 17th January 2006, to be held at The Carlton Tower, London.  This is a flagship event for the industry and a key forum at which current events in the industry are discussed. 

Last year's winner of "Environmentally Friendly Hotel of the Year" was 51 Buckingham Gate and the Crowne Plaza London St James, a member of the Taj Group.  Welcoming the award, Bernard de Villèle, Vice-President Operations Europe and the Americas , and General Manager - Taj Hotels, Resorts and Palaces, said: "Commitment to environmental issues can often be achieved without financial investment through simple action plans - and the great thing is that the benefits are not only environmental but financial in terms of real savings."   

A typical waste minimisation and recycling strategy would include the following actions:

• training staff on the importance of waste minimisation
• a commitment to use suppliers who will take back packaging
• a commitment to purchase re-usable items wherever possible
• an obligation on suppliers to minimise packaging and waste in their own operations (over and above any requirements of the Packaging Waste Regulations)
• implementation of processes to monitor waste volumes sent for landfill
• recycling of products – including innovative approaches for community recycling where recycling infrastructure does not exist
• composting of permissible garden waste
• effective recycling of furniture, fixtures and fittings after refurbishment, and disposal of building waste and materials.

For more information:

• Considerate Hoteliers
• Contact Jane Carlton Smith of the Centre for Environmental Studies in the Hospitality Industry, telephone 01865 483894/423741, email janecs@ntlworld.com
• Or Sarah Dunn, Media Relations Officer, WRAP, telephone 01295 819695, email: sarah.dunn@wrap.org.uk