Fundamental to good waste management is information. Having a solid understanding of your hotel’s waste flow (what goes in, how it’s disposed of what the associated costs are) can generate savings through more effective decision making at the front end: purchasing. When Hilton Worldwide hired a company to help analyze the economics of its waste flow, it discovered it was often paying extra to dispose of items categorized as hazardous waste, specifically, mercury-containing lightbulbs and oil-based paints.
“So we decided to change how we do things,” says Randy Gaines, vice president of engineering, housekeeping, and laundry operations, Americas, Hilton Worldwide. “We said, ‘Let’s buy differently. Let’s stop using some of this stuff.’” The company made the move to environmentally friendly bulbs that were easily recyclable. It also replaced oil-based paints with recyclable paint with low VOCs, or volatile organic compounds.
BioHitech America offers a picture of a hotel’s food waste situation through smart technology available in its digester. Customizable to a hotel’s needs, the BioHitech Cloud can provide data on everything from the type and amount of food introduced to who is introducing it and when. So, for example, if every day at 10 a.m. someone in the kitchen is disposing of a pound of chopped meat, management can receive that information and adjust its purchasing accordingly.
“Reducing waste is truly the greenest alternative,” says Frank E. Celli, BioHitech America CEO. “And it offers our customers the most economic benefit.”
