| Environmental Good Practice in Hotel Inter-Continental Miami : United States | USA | 1992 | Full scale |
HOTEL AND RESTAURANTS # 15
Background:
The Hotel Inter-Continental Miami is a 34-storey property located in the heart of Miami, Florida's financial and commercial district (United States). With its 664 rooms, 240 of which are designated as non-smoking rooms, 33 suites, 5 restaurants and over 61,000 ft2 of meeting and banqueting space, the hotel caters to business executives, conventions and leisure travelers.
"Inter-Cycle" is the name of the waste minimization and management Program of the Inter-Continental Miami. It's objectives are to reduce, re-use and recycle waste whenever possible, guarantee appropriate disposal and ensure regular monitoring through waste management audits and an annual cost/benefit analysis.
The Inter-Continental Miami is a member of the Florida Department of Transportation's "Keep Florida Beautiful" and has adopted two miles of highway extending from the front of the hotel to Biscayne Boulevard. The hotel also participates in numerous regional and local environmental campaigns such as the Earth Day anniversary festivities, the US Conference of Mayor's National Paper Recycling Project and the Buy Recycled Business Alliance.
Cleaner Production Principle:
Process modification; Material Substitution; Recovery, reuse and recycle; Housekeeping.
Cleaner Production Application:
The Miami Inter-Continental has implemented the Florida power and Light (the local power company's) Energy Efficiency Program.
Motion censors have been installed in all meeting rooms, air condition filters are changed once a month instead of every two months, temperatures on corridors and elevators are adjusted, variable frequency drives are fixed on all electric motors, and timers are fitted on all energy equipment.
Incandescent lights have been replaced with single florescent lamps, and in renovated guest rooms, the wattage has been reduced from 40 to 34 watts. The air-conditioning system has been retro-fitted to an automatic thermostat system.
In 1994, the hotel installed a water metering device that monitors the quantities consumed by each department and improves the control of water use.
In the bathrooms, water outlets and showers are equipped with aerators. Four gallon toilets have 1.5 gallon water saver units.
The Inter-Continental Miami has adopted a policy to purchase environmentally sensitive products, e.g. items that are recyclable or biodegradable, and made from recycled materials. Suppliers are asked to provide information on the environmental sensitivity of their products, and to suggest alternatives for toxic and heavy resource consuming items. The above actions aim to "close the recycling loop" and help stimulate the market for recycled products.
All suppliers are asked to take responsibility for their packaging. Suppliers must take back wooden crates and pallets that were previously let on the hotel loading dock or pay for their disposal. The hotel reports "the results are remarkable."
Waste collection and recycling programs have been set up for paper, PET (Poly Ethylene Terephthalate) and HDPE (High Density Polyethylene) plastic, cardboard, glass batteries, used florescent lamps, motor and kitchen oils, scrap metal, styrofoam and aluminum. Among other re-use initiatives:
| Edible left-over food is donated to food banks |
| Guest amenities e.g. soaps and lotions are collected by the Miami Rescue Mission |
| Old furniture and decorative ancillaries are donated to local charities |
| Old sheeting is reused as laundry bags (to replace plastic bags) |
| Old electrical appliances are re-sold to suppliers |
| Christmas trees are planted to be reused the following year |
| Batteries and florescent lamps are recycled through the state Program |
| Reusable containers are used for storing and holding cleaning liquids |
| Fifty-gallon containers are reused as recycling bins and garbage cans |
| Photocopying on both sides of the paper |
| Non-recyclable waste is compacted in a 30 m3 compactor. |
The "Green Team" coordinates the environmental effort. It includes all department heads and a representative from the environmental consultancy. To coordinate the collection of recyclables, the special post of "Mr Inter-Cycle" was created. Monthly competitions are organized to select the "recycle of the month" and the "recycling department of the month".
The hotel encourages cooperation and dialogue with suppliers through its annual Vendors Summit which serves as a forum to inform suppliers of its commitment to resource conservation and pollution prevention, and to encourage them to apply environmentally sound practices in the production and distribution of their products.
Monitoring checklists are used to verify if each item the hotel uses can be better re-used or recycled. Each department has to maintain a record of its waste output.
Waste water from the laundry is treated and reused to water the gardens in the hotel's plaza level fifth floor. Drought resistant plant varieties have been used in the gardens.
A regular waste management audit is performed with assistance from an environmental consultancy. This is followed by an annual cost benefit analysis of the entire "Inter-Cycle" initiative. Both economic and environmental costs and benefits are evaluated.
The costs of operating the "Inter Cycle" Program (purchase of containers for collection, internal publicity costs, coordinators time, etc.) and actual waste disposal fees are calculated and offset against:
The extra waste disposal charges that would have been due if recycling/reuse initiatives were not in operation
| Revenues from selling recyclables |
| Estimated value of the non-tangible benefits of Inter-Cycle such as marketing gains and improved employee morale. |
The laundry was formerly located next to the hotel ventilation system's air compressors, and the engineer's shop next to the chiller plant. Due to excess noise both work areas have been relocated. Mechanics and ground-keepers are required to wear ear plugs when working with power equipment.
Special training sessions are held on environmental awareness and incorporating environmental action into daily operational procedures. Much emphasis is given to good housekeeping practices. Training sessions are held in English, Spanish and Creole. Likewise "Inter-Cycle" promotional posters and recycling container labels also appear in these languages. An information sheet on the "Inter-Cycle" Program is included in all job descriptions.
The Hotel Inter-Continental Miami's environmental policy statement is displayed at the front desk, in meeting rooms and in restaurants. Tent cards have been placed in all guest rooms on recycling, water conservation and energy awareness. Guests are asked to leave their newspapers and aluminum cans for collection. A recycling bin for newspapers can also be found in the lobby.
Environmental and Economic Benefits:
Over 98% of the hotel's general ledger consists of materials with the highest possible recycled content, minimized toxicity and reduced packing. One hundred percent recycled purchases include stationery and all promotional material, toilet and tissue paper, guest amenity containers and re-fillable pencils for guest rooms.
Before "Inter-Cycle" began the hotel generated 1,420 tons of waste annually and disposal costs amounted to $85,000. Since 1992 with "Inter-Cycle" up and running, over 30 items and 45% of the hotels waste stream are recovered and recycled. disposal volumes have fallen to 679 tons and disposal costs are down to $31,000 per annum - with garbage collection just once a week, instead of every other day.
The water-saving measures collectively save the hotel over 400,000 gallons of water per year, which amounts to $4,000.
Collectively, the energy-saving actions save an estimated 400,000 kwh of energy annually, which amounts to $2,400.
Constraints:
None mentioned
Contacts:
Review Status:
This case study was taken from the joint UNEP/International Hotel and Restaurant Association (IHRA) publication "Environmental Good Practice in Hotels: Case Studies from the IHRA Environmental Award." Each case study was judged in 1995 by UNEP-IE prior to inclusion in the publication. It was edited for the ICPIC diskette in June 1997. Subsequently a technical review was done in September 1998 by Dr. Prasad Modak, Environmental Management Centre, Mumbai, India. For more information contact UNEPIE.