Scandic Hotel Chain Goes Green
by Treehugger Interns on 08.22.06
Many readers will probably be familiar with the feeling that they are taking their environmental concerns a little too far. I recently had this experience as I showed a friend some pictures of my recent vacation in Finland. Nestled amidst the images of my fiance and me on the beach was a rather dull photo of the trashcan from my hotel room. In my defence, this was no ordinary trashcan – not only did it contain a section for recycling paper, it also boasted a separate compartment for organic wastes for composting. Duly impressed, I searched for further signs of eco-consciousness from the hotel management and was not disappointed. Alongside the usual signs asking guests to re-use towels, I also found a water saving dual-flush lavatory, refillable soap dispensers and low-energy light bulbs. Once I had finished geeking out over the room’s eco-features I made my way down to breakfast. Whilst the all-you-can-eat buffet was, in many ways, a classic example of untreehugger-like over consumption, I was pleased to find organic milk, yoghurt, sugar and tea on offer amongst the usual bacon and eggs. A leaflet in my room further explained that the hotel’s restaurant aims to use local and/or organic ingredients where possible.
Apparently these measures are part of an ongoing initiative by the Scandic chain which operates hotels across Scandinavia and the Baltic States. Unfortunately their website contains very little information on their environmental policy, or on exactly how much water or energy has been saved by these moves, but it seems certain that a chain-wide effort such as this would have a significant impact on resource use. [Written by: Sami Grover]
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I wonder how long this needs to be used for before the recycling outways the amount of energy gone into manufacturing separate (I guess injection moulded) compartments?
Yup, I saw the same thing while staying at the Scandic Sanadome in Nijmegen, Netherlands.
The things we take pictures of, eh?
Andrew.
"I wonder how long this needs to be used for before the recycling outways the amount of energy gone into manufacturing separate (I guess injection moulded) compartments?"
Probably a couple of days as an environmentally concious waste management system is not something you add on top of existing systems but something you have instead. A stupid trash can takes about the same amount of material and energy to produce as does an intelligent one.
Many recylcling activities have questionable or even negative effects on environment but recycling organic waste is one of the most effective and important things to do. Organic waste mixed with other waste produces methane while it rots anaerobically and methane has more than 20 times the greenhouse effect of CO2. If organic waste is composted instead, it only produces CO2 and thus has a remarkably smaller gh-effect.
Did they actually leave your towels behind for re-use? Most of the hotels I stay in have the towel re-use notice, and I diligently follow the instructions to mark them for re-use. But when I return in the evening, the old towels are gone and new ones have appeared. The message must not have made it to the cleaning staff.
Check out their new website about their Eco programme.