Development of a Cleaner Production Programme for the Irish Hotel Industry - Greening Irish Hotels CGPP Report - J. Hogans & M. Bergin

Summary

The Irish Hospitality Institute (IHI) proposed to develop and introduce a cleaner production (CP) programme for Irish hotels. This would incorporate CP audits, identification of CP opportunities and assistance with development of CP programmes.

The progress and results achieved would result in a CP model for Irish hotels together with a benchmark of achieved standards. It was proposed that an interactive website be established to allow hotels in Ireland compare their environmental performance against national benchmark standards.

It was expected that the core group would achieve c. € 831,000 reduction in direct costs per annum and reduce their environmental impacts by a reduction of 3,000 t of CO₂ emissions, reduce waste going to landfill by 870 t and reduce water consumption by 50,000 m³.

The programme achieved the following:

• 56 hotels were engaged in more than 20 counties. Hotels involved in the programme included 3, 4 and 5 star hotels with sizes ranging from 30 to 255 bedrooms. These hotels represented c. 10% of Irish hotel room stock.
• 20 training sessions/workshops were held with over 600 person-training sessions delivered.
• 40 environmental reviews were carried out and CP plans created. Environmental management principles were introduced to in excess of 3,000 employees. Best practice standards were identified across waste, water and energy, and the Irish hotel industry was environmentally benchmarked for the first time.
• Quantifiable environmental achievements included 1,113 t of waste diverted from landfill and 3,000 t of CO₂ output reduced by the end of 2006.

The programme also identified future industry opportunities for:

• Energy savings of € 61.9 million include fuel switching which could save € 16 million
• Waste and water savings of  € 19.4 million
• CO₂ reductions of up to 162,000 t
• Water consumption reductions of up to 4.5 million m³
• Landfill waste reductions of up to 56,000 t.

The programme has engaged the industry and created an environment for change – the CP programme is replicable across all the accommodation and catering sectors.