Finnish Sokos Hotels recycle thousands of furniture

Sokos Hotels that has already 35 Green Key certified hotels in Finland take their environmental work seriously. They have recently done impressive environmental work when renovating their establishments, at the same time spreading good will by donating the replaced goods.

In Original Sokos Hotel President that lies in Helsinki city center thousands of furniture are replaced when giving the hotel a refreshed look. The old furniture will get a new life in multiple ways: Some of them have been reupholstered to fit the hotel´s new look. Some have been relocated to staff premises. Beds, blankets, pillows, curtains and night tables in turn get to continue their lives with a help of a Finnish company named Freshrent.

Freshrent cleanses and renovates the old materials. Some of the materials are good enough to be sold to private homes, smaller hotels and festivity premises. There are also temporary houses for construction workers as well as reception centers furnished with the old hotel beds.

Often hundreds of beds can be replaced when renovating a hotel. These beds might end up in a landfill but Freshrent gives it´s all to keep the stuff away from the landfills: If a bed is not suitable for use anymore it will be put into pieces that are recycled. Caring about the nature is a trend but Festrent also has plenty of customers that highly value the good quality of durable old hotel beds, states their CEO Juha Mäkinen.

Recycling furniture to fight social exclusion

Renovated Original Sokos Hotel Puijonsarvi at the city of Kuopio in turn donated their old goods to local work training foundation, Tukeva. The foundation gives workshops where the goods are renovated and then sold in foundation´s shops. The earnings from the shops are used to support socially exclusioned young people and long term unemployed.

Also, Original Sokos Hotel Alexandra in Jyväskylä donated some of their beds to help prevent social exclusion and help the long term unemployed, however, also the animals got their share of good will: Bedsheets were donated to vet clinics and to a local agility association.  

Responsible business is made of everyday choices

Reusing and recycling as part of everyday work is a fundamental part of Green Key work and an important part of responsible hotel business. Sokos Hotels chain is working hard to have all their remaining few hotels Green Key certified by the end of the year 2017.

Green Key on board of Brussels Airlines!

In July, travellers can read about Green Key in Brussels Airlines inflight magazine b.inspired.

Each month, the supplement of the Brussels Airlines inflight magazine b.inspired highlights one specific business topic. This July, the focus lies on sustainable development. Green Key contributed to the special edition with an article about its work on sustainable development in the tourism industry.  

The magazine is available on all Brussels Airline flights in Europe (60 destinations) and on flights to Africa (20 destinations) and North America (NYC, Washington, Toronto). Additionally, the magazine is available in several five star hotels in Brussels and in the airport lounges at Brussels airport. 

If you don't have the chance to read our article above the clouds, you can get your digital copy of the b.inspired magazine here. Green Key is featured on page 76. Enjoy!

Radisson Blu wins IMEX Sustainability Award

Blu Planet, the responsible business programme of Radisson Blu hotels has been named winner of the 2017 IMEX-GMIC Innovation in Sustainability Award

Inge Huijbrechts receives the IMEX Award

The IMEX-GMIC award celebrates inspiring brands that drive sustainability forward through innovation, collaboration and idea sharing.

The IMEX Awards programme was developed to recognise individuals and companies who have made outstanding contributions to the development of the meetings and incentive travel industry.

The IMEX Green Awards, jointly run with GMIC (Green Meeting Industry Council), supports IMEX's environmental initiatives with four awards specifically developed to reward and promote environmental awareness and corporate social responsibility. The Awards are presented annually at the IMEX Gala Dinner in Frankfurt.

Receiving the award Inge Huijbrechts, Vice President of Responsible Business for the Radisson Hotel Group said, “We are determined to help protect the Earth’s priceless water supply. We launched Blu Planet to conserve water and help bring safe drinking water and sanitation to communities in need. Blu Planet is a key pillar of our group’s Responsible Business programme and our hotels’ contribution to UN Sustainable Development Goal number 6. Winning the IMEX-GMIC award is a great recognition of our hotels’ engagement and our partnership with Just a Drop.”

The Blu Planet initiative includes:

• Towel replacement programme in support of Just a Drop

• Soap for Hope recycling initiative with Sealed Air

• Radisson Blu’s signature water-light Super Breakfast

• All natural bathroom amenities by THIS WORKS

• A continued focus to have all hotels eco-labelled and minimize Radisson hotels’ water footprint

“Water covers 71% of Earth, but only 1% of it is actually potable,” says Huijbrechts. “Experts predict that, by 2025, more than half the world’s population will become vulnerable due to safe water scarcity. The tourism and hospitality sectors consume substantial amounts of water. Radisson Blu and Radisson Hotel Group are extremely mindful and have reduced their water consumption by 29% since 2007. The company’s ambition is to reduce litres consumed per guest, per night by another 10% by the end of 2020, without compromising guest experience or comfort.”

Radisson Blu Hotels & Resorts has encouraged its guests to reuse close to 2 million towels since the launch of a new towel replacement programme in 2015, in partnership with Just a Drop. The programme aims to provide clean drinking water for life for more than 10,000 children in India, Kenya and Peru. Radisson Blu has also helped recycle and distribute an estimated 66 tons of soap waste in support of Soap for Hope, giving free soap to communities, creating local entrepreneurs, bringing jobs to the community, and helping hotels reduce waste through recycling.

Today, more than 450 Radisson Hotels & Resorts worldwide have eco-labels, signalling the brand’s commitment to work on saving water, using fewer chemical products and supporting community-based projects in water stressed areas.

“According to UNICEF, no single intervention is more likely to reduce global poverty than the provision of safe water, and Radisson Blu is proud to positively contribute to this global commitment,” said Huijbrechts.  

Åland Maritime Museum preserves for the future with Green Key

The Åland Maritime Museum Trust is a charitable trust, operating the Åland Maritime Museum and the four masted steel barque Pommern. Over the last couple of years, the trust has been awarded the Visit Ålands Tourism Prize and the Museum of the Year in Finland. The museum is the first attraction on the Åland Islands that has decided to start their work towards Green Key certification. The decision to initiate work with the Green Key criteria was not a hard one.

"During a conversation with Hanna, director of the Åland Maritime Museum Trust, I suggested that we should work towards an environmental certification and Hanna immediately felt that it was a good idea. The reason why we chose the Green Key program is that it is so comprehensive and the criteria can be adapted into our own operations", says Madeleine Caldén, environmental manager at Åland Maritime Museum Trust.

Striving for preservation is striving for environmental values in the museums operation. "In line with our initiation to start our work with Green Key, we captured this opportunity to evaluate our purchases and routines within several areas. Luckily, environmental work often goes hand in hand with preserving. Gentle care is often required when preserving objects and that means that we for example don’t use any chemicals unless it is necessary." 

The aim of Åland Maritime Museum Trust is to pass on knowledge about the tangible and intangible maritime cultural heritage. This might bring history to mind before the future, but Madeleine states that one thing requires the other. "The Trust’s purpose is to care for and pass on knowledge about the cultural heritage of Åland, but for that to happen there must be someone to pass it on to. With thoughts about the future it feels self-evident that we also need to do our part and do what we can to preserve nature and the environment." 

The museum is appropriate for all ages. The younger visitors can go on an adventure with the ship’s rat Ruby and peek into small rat holes in the floor. This spring opened also a new play environment for children. The playroom has gone through extensive reconstruction and since April 2017 it was called 'Ruby and the ocean'. The playroom will be a place for free play, for discoveries and research and of course environmental education. 

The museum is constantly developing and this summer, the visitors will have the possibility to enjoy some coffee and biscuits. "Some small refreshments, like coffee, tea and biscuits will be sold in a little café. It feels much nicer with a café in comparison to the coffee machine that we have today, and a café is also something that the visitors have requested. At the same time, we are discussing how we can adapt the Green Key criteria to the café already from the start. We will use real cups and spoons instead of disposables and some of the assortment will be locally produced or organic", concludes Madeleine Caldén.

Radisson Blu Resort Gran Canaria winning a responsible business award

The Green Key awarded Radisson Blu Resort Gran Canaria in Spain is recognised for its recycling efforts

Radisson Blu Resort Gran Canaria has been selected among more than 70 properties as one of the top 5 best hotels in the island due to their recycling programme by Gran Canaria Recicla and Cabildo de Gran Canaria.  

The hotel has worked hard to be able to separate bins in more than four different types. They have specific recycling points for guests and employees all around the hotel and they train and inform everybody regarding the way of collecting the waste.

It is a pleasure to receive this award and the hotel would like to thank all of its team and specially the Maintenance Team and the Chief Engineer (Jaime Muñoz), as they have been the ones making this philosophy come alive!

Green Key award ceremony in Sint Maarten

Following the collaborative agreement between the foundation Environmental Protection in the Caribbean (EPIC), National Operator of the Blue Flag and Green Key, and the Sint Maarten Hospitality and Trade Association (SHTA) to promote sustainable tourism, the partners organized a Green Key Award ceremony

From Right to Left: Paul Henriquez (SHTA Board Member), Lorraine Talmi (SHTA Board Member), Paul Boetekees (Princess Heights General Manager), Elisa Oldani (Green Key National Operator, EPIC St. Maarten), Arnaldo Phelipa (Holland House General Manager) and Laura Bijnsdorp (EPIC St. Maarten).

The two establishments that received the Green Key Award were Holland House Beach Hotel, which obtained the award for the first time, and Princess Heights Luxury Boutique Condo Hotel, which is being awarded for the third consecutive year.

This event was a celebration of environmental sustainability on St. Maarten and the achievement by the two beautiful properties but also presented the opportunity for other businesses to learn about the importance of preserving the tourism product and profiting from it in a sustainable way.

 “The Green Key programme is not just a set of guidelines to follow, it is a comprehensive programme that ensures a reduction of waste and energy, which not only benefits the environment but it is beneficial to the cost of our business as well. It educates our staff, it educates our management and it drives a spirit into your organization. Going green for us it’s a rewarded investment and [one] that we attempt to keep up “said Paul Boetekees, General Manager of Holland House.

Princess Heights is the ground-breaking establishment which became the island’s first Green Key Hotel. Mr. Arnaldo Phelipa, General Manager of Princess Heights, congratulated Holland House for their achievements and urged other businesses to move towards a greener and more sustainable business attitude for the benefits of the community, the environment and the business itself.

The event was well attended by many trade and tourism businesses supportive of sustainable operations on St. Maarten as well as EPIC representatives Laura Bijnsdorp, Elisa Oldani and Kippy Gilders and SHTA Board Members Lorraine Talmi and Paul Henriquez.

Green Key Branding Guidelines explains the correct use of Green Key logos and standardised material

Green Key has prepared the "Green Key Branding Guidelines" document to follow for all involved in the programme at the international, national and local level

The Branding Guidelines for Green Key has been developed for the programme based on the overall guidelines of the Foundation for Environmental Education (FEE, the organisation behind Green Key). The overall guidelines were approved at the FEE General Assembly in September 2016.

After describing the importance of a unified brand identity in Green Key, the Branding Guidelines document describes:

• Colour, appearance and specification of use of the Green Key logo and text below
• Use of the “Green Key” name
• Use of standardised Green Key material (plaques, stickers, certificate and flag)

If you are a Green Key awarded establishment or a partner of Green Key at the local, national or international level, and you are unsure whether you are using the correct Green Key logo or material, please contact your Green Key National Operator or Green Key International. The Green Key Branding Guidelines document can also be downloaded here. 

Tackling water waste whilst delivering a premium guest experience

Establishing responsible water usage can improve guests' shower experience

An increasing amount of travellers are opting for sustainable hotel and travel experiences and it's no surprise that hotel providers are looking at different ways to achieve a ‘greener’ rating. With a typical 300-room hotel using over 1 million litres of water per month, focusing on water waste is key in neutralising water and energy consumption.

Installing water saving shower heads is one solution but this usually also compromises the shower experience. Our vision at Orbital Systems is to totally transform how hotel water is consumed, whilst providing a premium shower experience. The average conventional shower uses 100 litres of water per session, that's 10x more water than we actually need. With Orbital System’s shower this reduces to 5-10 litres.

Our closed-loop technology continuously recirculates and purifies water reducing the risk of bacteria such as legionella. It also comfort-corrects the few litres of water you start with, whilst maintaining constant pressure, flow and temperature. Which means your guests can actually shower for as long as they want, without any of the guilt. And with our real-time, tracking app you will have complete visibility into water usage and savings, a great promotional tool that you can use to highlight your responsible water practices.

Find out just exactly how much water and energy you can save in your facility using our savings calculator or by getting in touch with the Orbital Systems team today: contact@orbital-systems.com.

Qatar Green Building Council starts national management of Green Key in Qatar

Qatar Green Building Council has decided to launch the national management of the Green Key programme in Qatar, making Green Key available to all hotels and tourism establishments in Qatar

W Doha Hotel & Residences

The hotel, W Doha Hotel & Residences have been Green Key awarded since 2013. Other hotels in Qatar have expressed interest in achieving the prestigious Green Key label.

With Qatar Green Building Council reaching membership of the Foundation for Environmental Education, the organisation is now officially launching the work with Green Key. The Green Key management in Qatar will be changed to Qatar Green Building Council, and it is possible for all other hotels and tourism establishments in Qatar to apply for Green Key through Qatar Green Building Council. 

Finn Bolding Thomsen, International Green Key Director says: “I am very happy that Green Key is now offered to any hotel and tourism establishment in Qatar through Qatar Green Building Council. As the country is hosting the Football World Cup in 2022, it will offer the country a unique opportunity to showcase Qatar’s ambitions on sustainable development, including through having a range of hotels and tourism facilities in Qatar joining the Green Key programme. I would like to thank W Doha Hotels & Residence for being an important role model for other establishments in Qatar planning to join Green Key.” 

Hamoda Youssef at Qatar Green Building Council has been appointed as Green Key national operator in Qatar (contact details: E-mail: hyoussef@qf.org.qa or phone: (+974)  44541781.