Meeting Room
Green transport for meeting attendees
When hotels arrange transport for people attending meetings, it both saves energy and helps to protect the local environment.
Just by being more efficient, communal transport cuts back on fuel consumption and reduces air pollution. If hotels use flexible fuel vehicles, the benefits are even greater. Instead of using petrol, these vehicles run on bio-ethanol derived from crops such as corn and beet, so cutting CO2 emissions.
Recycling bins
Business and social meetings often create a lot of waste. Recycling bins around the hotel encourage a more responsible approach to refuse disposal, making it as easy for people to recycle paper and cans as to throw them away.
It’s simpler for hotels too, as it’s easier for them to sort out recyclable items.
Reduced paper meetings
By making it easy for people to cut back on the amount of paper they use during meetings – for example, encouraging them to present information electronically rather than relying on handouts – hotels can help reduce the energy used in paper manufacture.
Pulp, paper and paperboard mills account for about 12 per cent of the total manufacturing energy use in the US.
China and glass
By providing drinks in durable, reusable china and glass – rather than Styrofoam or plastic – hotels can help to protect the environment.
Foam cups use petrochemicals in their production and they aren’t recyclable. Plastic is also a difficult material to recycle.
Cutting back on food waste
Instead of throwing away food left over from meetings and buffets, hotels can help support local charities by donating it to food banks.
Any unwanted scraps can also be composted, creating a rich fertiliser for use on hotel plants and lawns.
Recycled paper
Buying recycled products is beneficial on a number of levels – it saves resources, energy and landfill space.
Hotels can help by providing recycled paper for meetings – and by offering to recycle any that’s left over afterwards.
Low-emission paint
By using natural water-based paint, hotels can help to protect their local environment.
These paints don’t contain solvents and VOCs (volatile organic compounds). When VOCs are released into the atmosphere, they help create petrochemical smog which is associated with respiratory diseases.
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