Sustainability is the starting point and Circularity is the end game

The linear economy or “take-make-use-waste” model is being exposed for its severe negative consequences environmentally. 

Society is realising that our systems are no longer serving us. On our current trajectory worldwide, waste generation will have increased by 70% by 2050 – that’s 3.4 billion metric tons! (Global waste generation - statistics & facts | Statista). 

The message of reduce, reuse, repair, repurpose and then recycle is slow to take real effect in counteracting this waste problem.  In the Hospitality industry we need to rethink: not what we offer but how we offer it –and the consequential waste from our decisions.  

The Hotel Yard 

One missed opportunity is when renovations are taking place at a Hospitality property.  Furniture, which is still perfectly useable is being thrown in the skip in large quantities. There is an alternative. Fifty Shades Greener has collaborated with Otolo, a global online hospitality forum, for an initiative named “The Hotel Yard”. Hospitality businesses based in the UK can put up items of furniture or bathroom fittings to give, which they would otherwise be throwing out. Then we link them up with a local charity or business who would like to take the furniture. We want to bring the circular economy to all those precious items of furniture that have no use in a business anymore, but can be of great help to others and divert them away from landfill. 

Choose to Reuse 

Circularity requires a shift in opinion of second-hand items.  Many pieces that end up in the rubbish bin are because of people changing their mind and not about the quality of the product, or the fact that it may still be perfectly useable.  

“The idea that something that works fine should be replaced is now so ingrained in our culture that few people question it.”  

(The high cost of our throwaway culture - BBC Future) 

Also, the way products are sold and consumed is a large part of this problem – are we choosing durable items? The irony is that we consumers do not shop seasonally for our food, which would be a sustainable practice, but we do for our clothes. We no longer repair our computers, phones, zippers, buttons, or re-upholster – we just throw it away and buy new.  

Sharing 

This convenience culture is also rooted in our need to own what we use. Christine Cole and Alex Gnanapragasam suggest a “sharing economy” as part of the circular economy, which works very well for transport, for example city bike rentals and car leasing:  

“Sharing as part of a circular economy promotes better efficiency in materials, which reduces the lifetime carbon emissions of products that are designed and maintained for optimum life spans and used more intensively. It allows for a growth in consumption without the corresponding demand for resources.”  

(How to fight 'throwaway culture' - BBC Worklife)

Single-use Alternatives 

A large portion of landfill waste in Hospitality are single use items which are offered “complimentary”: slippers, mini-toiletries, coasters, disposable cups, water bottles, plastic laundry bags etc.  We buy these items, store them, offer them for free, dispose of them and contribute to our collective waste problem globally. If we truly look at the cost of these items, it begs the questions- are they worth offering? Why are we not choosing reusable alternatives?   

Hotels who are choosing reusable alternatives are offering: premium quality toiletries from fixed dispensers, using leather coasters rather than single use, cloth napkins rather than paper, reusable water bottles, bamboo or washable slippers, reusable linen laundry bags etc. 

Circular DNA 

At present the onus is on the customers to do their research and source products which have been made in the most sustainable way: from manufacturing, packaging to the end result. Realistically, the manufacturers and wholesalers need to be onboard to offer products that have a circular economy inbuilt in their business structure; in their “DNA” (www.kaldewei.com).  

Speaking with Paul Mac Sharry in a short interview, International Project Manager with Kaldewei, luxury bathroom fittings with a sustainability mindset: “sustainability is the starting point and circularity is the end game” (Paul Mac Sherry, 26.4.22). 

Once the company’s luxury bathroom fittings have reached the end of their use, they can be deconstructed into their raw materials and can be “born again without any reduction in quality” (www.kaldewei.com).  

We need to demystify what a circular economy or business is and does – from building, to refurbishments and then to our guests' experience. 

The Quality we offer does not have to suffer and neither does the Planet.  

For those that want to get started on greening their business, check out our Green Business programme, which is fully funded in Ireland by the Kildare & Wicklow educational training board. Is your business outside of Ireland? Not to worry, get in touch with me on [email protected]

Thank you for reading today!

 The FSG Team 💚