Negative Effects Of The Hotel's Effects On The Environment

Negative Effects On Environment

Individually, hotels do not make a big impact on the environment. But collectively they can have a diverse effect on it by being very wasteful and consuming a lot of resources. There has been a estimation made that 75% of the hotels impact on environment is due to excessive consumption (Bohdanowicz, 2006). The main areas where the hotel effects the environment the most are the areas of energy, water and waste. Taking these areas one by one I would first focus on how the hotel affects and over consumes the energy. Energy- Excess use of energy can be really costly and with some adjustments, it can lead to massive savings. In many hotels the average consumption of energy per bed per night might be approximately

One study identified "that an average hotel produces in excess of one kilogram of waste per guest per day" (Bohdanowicz P. , 2005). The hotels can deduct the most of this waste by reusing and recycling. This waste can be represented as food waste, labor, and utilities. In UK, food that goes to waste in the hotel sector approximately costs 318 million pounds each year. (Tuppen, 2014). Water-Tourists require clean and dependable water for survival including drinking, cooking and cleansing. However, the hotel uses water for other amenities, which are expected by the tourists such as, swimming pools, spas, etc. The most water used in hotels are in the laundry room, kitchen, restroom and landscaping. Hotels spend a lot of money on water; 10% of the utility bills for the hotel accounts for water (Tuppen H. ,

The hotels have realized this and are taking steps towards improving the same.
Hotels like the Willard Intercontinental in Washington D.C. have started using water free urinals saving almost 95,000 gallons of water every year. (Willard InterContinental Hotel Washington D.C., 2009).
Many hotels are turning into eco-friendly resorts by which they can change their system and minimize the use of natural resources.
The first eco friendly resort was opened in 1976 in St John and it was called the Maho Bay Camp. It had low flush composting toilets, controllable water pressure showers and solar heated water to preserve the natural resources (Ernst and Young, 2008). To control the waste of the hotels; many hotels are now following the concept of reduce, reuse and recycle. A study by Bohdanowicz (2005) identified that "a large proportion (50-60 percent) of the waste materials in an accommodation facility can be recycled or reused." I would like to give an example of a hotel to prove this statement. E.g. – The Westin San Francisco airport hotel has started a recycling program that recycles 22 tons of materials and saves approximately $6000 annually.