The InterContinental Adelaide has achieved a remarkable “Zero Landfill” status a year ahead of schedule with figures released demonstrating the hotel has recycled 100% of its waste in the past three months with absolutely no waste going into landfill.
In an industry branded one of the most wasteful in the world, the hotel has surpassed all targets set by the InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) as part of its Corporate Responsibility Program.
InterContinental Adelaide General Manager, James Allen said the hotel was setting a new benchmark in waste management.
“To be honest this came as a bit of a surprise. We set our targets to have 100% recycling of waste and zero landfill by the end of 2012 and we have achieved it a year earlier than expected,” Mr Allen said.
“The IHG Group has instructed all 4,400 hotels around the globe to clean up their act in relation to the environment and its carbon footprint. The InterContinental Adelaide has taken this direction extremely seriously and I am hugely proud of everybody involved.”
In 2006, IHG calculated that the carbon footprint of a single guest room was the equivalent of an average sized home. It was from this startling discovery that the IHG “Green Engage” program was born.
The Green Engage program is IHG’s own comprehensive sustainability system and enables all of the group’s hotels to monitor and manage environmental impact. The Green Engage program is the first hotel sustainability management system to be endorsed by the US Green Building Council.
One of Australia’s leading waste management companies, SITA has been responsible for delivering InterContinental Adelaide a “source separation resource recovery platform” that enables the hotel to separate its organic waste and recyclable materials from the general waste stream.
SITA Major Accounts Manager, Christopher Plummer said the key to success was making sure recyclables were returned back into the productive economy.
“Through the partnership between InterContinental Adelaide and SITA we have ensured all the remaining dry materials are manufactured into a processed engineered fuel at the SITA Resource Co Alternative Fuels facility in Wingfield. This fuel is then used as an alternative to fossil fuels for firing cement kilns at Adelaide Brighton Cement,” Mr Plummer said.
“I am so impressed with InterContinental Adelaide’s commitment to zero waste and the way in which they are doing it. It truly is a complete zero waste solution.”
James Allen said purchasing decisions, supply chain and procurement priorities were all integral to the achievement of sending no waste to landfill.
“This has been a real team effort. It has not been easy but with everybody so committed to achieving the result, we have managed to succeed. I imagine a large percentage of IHG hotels will follow suit in the coming months.”
IHG began actively monitoring and addressing the environmental impact of its hotels in 2007 outlining its priorities of significantly reducing water and energy consumption, cutting carbon emissions and landfill waste at every InterContinental, Crown Plaza and Holiday Inn hotel in Australasia by the end of 2014.
For more information, check out InterContinetal Adelaide's Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/InterConADL
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