The Green Key awarded hotel Sokos Hotel Ilves in Tampere, Finland has a high goal for 2017: To recyclye 100% of the waste that is produced in the establishment. Looking at their achievements in the past, this goal doesn’t seem so far away.

The information given to the tourists in the Sokos Hotel Ilves says the following: "The energy saved from recycling one bottle will power a 5 watt led lamp for 20 hours (this one changed from original 60 W light bulb-> 5 W led)" and "One recycled aluminum can saves enough energy to power a TV for 3 hours"

From 2015 to 2016, the Sokos Hotel Ilves already managed to reduce the amount of unrecycled waste by over a half from five tons to around 2 tons. To improve the recycling, the hotel launched different initiatives and activities which involves both the staff and the guests. For example, the hotel took part in the waste reduction week, and encourages their guests to recycle their waste with the help of Green Key recycling information in every room. In addition, the hotel tries to raise awareness about food waste among tourists by displaying related information during the breakfast buffet.

According to the hotel manager, Kati Vihma, the biggest challenge in reducing the amount of mixed waste was to encourage the staff to take leadership in the project. However, she is pleased to see that the interest in recycling has risen among the employees, which is reflected in the increased number of staff trainings that deal with this topic.

Another information sign of the hotel says "The energy used to make one can from raw materials could be used to make 20 recycled cans" and "every year the average dustbin contains enough unreleased energy for 3500 showers"