You've got to watch your bins!

Waste is one of the most colossal challenges of our times. Waste production continues to increase and Ireland is now facing a potential waste mountain with no place to go. For some facts and stats continue reading to the end of this blog.

The first step to reducing waste at your hospitality business – CHECK YOUR BINS!

I am aware this is less than glamorous but unfortunately it is the only way you can learn what waste you are producing. I myself had to carry this out over a period of months when I was green manager at Hotel Doolin. It is a less than savoury task BUT one thing is for sure, I learned A LOT from it and I reduced our waste by 30% in one year by applying very simple actions - the  first one being WATCHING YOUR BINS!

Checking your bins allows you to understand what waste is being produced at your business, enabling you to take the necessary steps to either reduce or abolish certain waste completely.

Check your bins at different times of the day and different days of the week for one week so as  to get a clearer picture of what is actually going in the bin and at what specific times of the day. To go a step further - use a notebook and write down the items you see that are disposed of the most. At the end of the week you can revise and discuss your results with your management and identify the top two items that were disposed of the most.

Involve your team

For those running large hospitality businesses it is vital that you involve your team, especially your heads of department. Ask them to watch their departamental bins for a week before they are sent to the waste disposal area. Ask them also to note the top two most disposed of items in their departments (Housekeeping, kitchen, leisure centre...).

Gather all department’s information at the end of the week with your own data and make a decision based on your results.

What are your top two most disposed of items? Are those items absolutely necessary when it comes to running your business? Do you purchase them to enhance the customer experience and if so - have you ever investigated if they actually DO enhance their experience? If the answer is no - the solution is easy - ABOLISH THEM FROM YOUR BUSINESS IMMEDIATELY.

Remember that when you are putting an item in the bin, you paid for it to get it to your business and now you are also paying to have it taken away.

What if the item enhances your visitor experience?

Change is not easy, I get that. And if you feel that items you are constantly throwing out do enhance your visitor’s experience, then of course the decision to abolish it can be difficult. But think about this - how much does it enhance your visitor experience? And is it worth it when you calculate how much it is costing you to purchase the item and then have it taken away by your waste collection company on a weekly basis? Can you offer an alternative perhaps? Here is a little story from a hotel I worked in a few years ago.

“After watching our landfill bin for a week, we clearly established that our top most disposed of items - were slippers from the hotel bedrooms. They were offered complimentary in all of our guest rooms and this had been the hotel’s policy for years. But after doing the maths, we decided to take a different approach. We took away the slippers from all bedrooms, but we added a note from our General Manager to say the reason we had taken them away is because we were trying to apply green practices and our first task was to reduce our landfill waste. However, if any guest wanted slippers they simply just had to call reception and they would be brought up to their room. A month later, 2 customers had requested slippers to be sent to their room and 12 other guests had commented how impressive our green initiative was.” 

RESULT!

So if you are concerned that your customers will not like the changes you need to implement, give them the choice. Allow them to make the decision whether they want to create extra waste or not and revise your results after a period of time. I guarantee you that whatever the results, you will reduce your waste bill, your impact to the environment and you will create good will amongst those of your customers that care for the environment.

This is the beginning of your waste management journey!

Raquel