Winter News Bulletin 2020

 Xenia zu Hohenlohe Introduction
Not just a new year, but a new decade has begun - and it is going to be ‘THE’ for addressing climate change and finally reducing those CO 2 emissions.

I was hoping we could start this year on a positive note, as within our team and indeed the sustainability sector there has been a huge surge in uptake of sustainable practices, which is hugely exciting. ESG is the new buzz word in all the financial markets (see my latest blog on this in the HOTELS Magazine newsletter), and is also affecting the hotel market as many of the big asset funds holding hotel properties are keen for their properties to be shifting to more sustainable operations.

Meet the Team
Martha: "Since joining Considerate in August I have thoroughly enjoyed being part of a number of exciting projects introducing sustainable strategy into the heart of hospitality businesses. I have also been working on the second phase of development of our new app, Fluttr, and am looking forward to see how the app continues to develop over the course of the next year."

Sana: "While 2019 was just the time many seemed to finally listen to the wake up calls on Climate Change, 2020 will be the year to put these strategies into action. As the start of a new decade, I expect 2020 to be a year where sustainability strategies are reviewed and ambitious agendas enforced. We are ready, let’s kick it off!"

Nick: “As a new member of the Considerate team, 2020 is incredibly exciting for me. There’s lots to learn, and I’m looking forward to continuing to get to know the team here and help cut emissions in the hospitality sector. I think this is going to be the decade that the world gets really serious about sustainability.”

Kate : 'It has been very encouraging to see the interest in sustainability grow amongst the hospitality industry throughout 2019, and I am excited to be involved in a number of great projects for 2020 as our team and client base continue to grow!'

Bumjoo : ‘I joined the Considerate Group at the end of 2019 after moving on from my career in hospitality real estate of more than 12 years. I realised that I was not making enough of a positive impact on society; rather maybe I was having a negative one. I did not want the hospitality industry I love so passionately to become the reason for global warming and wanted to do something about it. I look forward to being part of making positive changes in 2020!’ 

Anton : "A new year and a new decade bring new opportunities for Considerate. As each year passes the need for sustainable practices becomes increasingly obvious, particularly in light of recent extreme weather events. As I see it, the key to our continued success in 2020 and beyond is maintaining our level of professionalism and consistency given the increase in demand for the services we provide."

Sujaan: "As the newest member of the team (I only started this January) I believe 2020 is going to be a great start to the new decade for sustainability and environmentally friendly practices in the hospitality sector, as more and more knowledge is developed and shared as well as the increase in awareness of the need to make these changes."

Commit to reducing food waste with WRAP
We at Considerate want to do our part in reducing food waste and are therefore delighted to have been welcomed by WRAP as the latest organisation to commit to the Food Waste Reduction Roadmap.  As part of this commitment WRAP will support Considerate Group and its members in driving down costs by reducing food waste.
 
The Roadmap builds on the findings of the joint WRAP/World Resources Institute (WRI)  Report  which demonstrates how reducing food waste in hotels can help to reduce costs, increase revenues, and engage staff and customers. The report found hotels saved £7 for every £1 invested in reducing food waste, which can very quickly add up into a considerable saving.
An innovative approach to combat food waste

IntelliDigest Ltd is a start-up company whose mission is to provide more environmentally friendly and holistic solutions to combat food waste. They are tackling the issue from two sides – repurposing edible food that would otherwise be discarded, and converting real food ‘waste’ in to climate-friendly materials.

IntelliDigest has a patented biochemical process – ID Box – that converts inedible food waste in to climate-friendly material, and for which businesses can sign up to a monthly subscription. The ID Box uses Artificial Intelligence to characterise food waste, which allows it to use the optimal enzymes to break the items down quickly and efficiently. ID Box aims to enable customers to help meet the UK target that no food will be disposed of by drain or sewer by January 2021.

UNWTO - Global Tourism Plastics Initiative
Last week at  FITUR  in Madrid the tourism sector took another step towards tackling plastic pollution by launching the Global Tourism Plastics Initiative, developed by the  One Planet Sustainable Tourism Programme,  and  Considerate Group  is delighted to take an active role in the Advisory Committee of this initiative.

The Global Tourism Plastics Initiative (GTPI) unites the tourism sector behind a common vision to address the root causes of plastic pollution. It enables businesses and governments to take concerted action, leading by example in the shift towards circularity in the use of plastics.

As a member of the Advisory Committee, Considerate Group is contributing to the co-creation of the initiative, developing a menu of commitments that outlines the expected contributions from enterprises, destinations, associations, and NGO’s to define concrete roadmaps for implementation of the initiative by 2025.

Plastic Free Toiletries at The Beaumont
Considerate  member  The Beaumont Hotel announced its exciting new initiative to introduce plastic free toiletries at the end of 2019. This will be achieved through the collaboration with  D.R. Harris , London’s oldest pharmacy and purveyor of grooming and skincare lines, and  La Bottega , the leading supplier of branded bath & body ranges to luxury hotels.

The Beaumont , at only 73-rooms, currently uses almost 32,000 single-use plastic bottles of shampoo, shower gel, hair conditioner and body lotion per year. The environmental impact of the current range is significantly reduced by the hotel’s partnership with the charity  CleanConscience, yet t he plastic bottles are unable to be recycled in the UK. With the introduction of the new range in fully recycled and recyclable aluminium tubes   (D.R. Harris' sustainable range), the number of plastic bottles used will be reduced to zero. Any left-over toiletries, plus all the packaging can be re-purposed and recycled.
IHIF 2020 Vision: Redefining the Rules
The 23 rd  International Hospitality Investment Forum ( IHIF ), the premier hotel and hospitality related investment forum in the world, will again be taking place in Berlin in March this year. We at Considerate are delighted to have been invited by Questex, the organisers, to head their new Sustainability Council launched this year.
 
The theme of the conference this year is 2020 Vision: Redefining the Rules, and represents the home of the most dynamic, forward-thinking and disruptive players in hospitality investment.
 
The Sustainability Council at this year's IHIF is set to identify the key areas in which the hospitality real estate sector needs to address sustainability concerns and to provide guidelines on how investors, developers, operators and all key stakeholders can commit to more sustainable practices.
Case study: How 4 UK businesses cut their electricity bills by using Fluttr
In August 2019, two hotels, a hostel and a pub became testers for  Fluttr  – Considerate Group’s  new energy management app  for SMEs in the hospitality sector. Over the subsequent months these businesses saw their combined electricity consumption drop considerably. As a result of following our tips and acting on their personalised electricity usage data, provided by  Fluttr , these businesses were able to become more energy efficient.

In the first week of using Fluttr, the four businesses used an average of 439kWh of electricity per day. This level of usage would generate as much CO 2  as burning 129lbs of coal every day. However, by the end of November the businesses’ combined electricity usage had dropped by 28% to an average of 317kWh per day across the week.

Hypnos Sows The Seeds Of Conservation
Award-winning British bed manufacturer and Royal Warrant holder, Hypnos Beds, has donated and planted 200 tree saplings in Castlefield Wood in partnership with Queens Award winning Chiltern Rangers, a Buckinghamshire based social enterprise committed to protecting the Chiltern landscape with the community. 

As part of its decade-long commitment to supporting the environment and boosting sustainability within the industry, the company’s donation is a part of its carbon offsetting programme to support carbon neutrality. To date, the bed maker (and Considerate  supplier ) has gifted over 1,500 trees since November 2014, and there are plans to donate even more in the future.
Monitoring indoor air quality: office case study
Indoor air quality and its close link to employee well-being continues to be overlooked by many organisations, even though there is plentiful  research  confirming that better indoor air quality improves productivity. One recent study by researchers from Harvard & Syracuse Universities found that by doubling ventilation in an enclosed workspace, cognitive performance increased by more than 100%.

We have been helping one of our clients, who recognises the importance of measuring and improving indoor air quality, to gain recognition for their efforts. As part of its office refurbishment, we have installed indoor air quality monitoring sensors that measure indoor CO 2 and VOC levels in individual meeting rooms and office spaces. These measurements are automatically sent to our unique data management system,  Con-Serve™ , allowing the occupants to track the indoor air quality in real time. The sensors can detect when someone is eating oranges or if a meeting room is being overused for example.

Greener cleaning from GreenZone
Considerate Supplier GreenZone Cleaning & Support Services Ltd were absolutely delighted to have received the award for Data Quality and Collection in recognition of their work in sustainability at The Planet Mark Awards in October.
 
The Planet Mark Awards were introduced to reward and recognise outstanding organisations providing the leadership and vision needed to combat the biggest challenge of our time, Climate Change. It was an honour for GreenZone to be recognised for their contribution to tackling this global issue.

GreenZone is the UK’s only one-stop solution for truly environmentally friendly commercial cleaning and associated soft services. They aim to challenge all industry preconceptions and deliver the cleanest and most service-focused customer experience, whilst achieving new benchmarks in sustainability; environmental, social and economic. They strive to be an employer of choice - inspiring their people and being a catalyst for change within the industry.

The Planet Mark, established in 2013, is a certification programme that recognises organisations’ commitment to continuous improvement in sustainability. The programme helps businesses to measure and reduce carbon emissions, energy, water consumption, travel, and waste and to engage their staff and community in the process.
Recycle with TerraCycle
Looking to recycle unusual items that don't fit in to your suppliers' standard waste streams?

Founded in 2001, TerraCycle® is the world’s leader in the collection and repurposing of hard-to-recycle waste, such as crisp packets, pens and contact lenses. TerraCycle® works with major brands to offer free recycling programmes for waste which would otherwise be destined for landfills or incineration, such as crisp packets, pens and toothbrushes.

TerraCycle® also offers Zero Waste Boxes™, a complete and convenient solution which includes the storage, shipping and recycling of a particular type of waste that isn’t currently recycled through local council facilities.

The Zero Waste Boxes™ can be used to recycle over 70 different waste categories including; all plastic packaging, safety equipment, lanyards and coffee capsules - amongst others! They are suitable for hospitality areas, homes, offices, stores, warehouses, community spaces, processing or other types of facilities.

TerraCycle® repurposes the waste collected into new products that are available online. The waste is collected through TerraCycle®’s free national recycling programmes, which also enable participants to raise funds for schools, charities and non-profits for every piece of waste they collect and return.

Currently more than 5,217,997 individuals and organisations across the UK have signed up to collect, which to date has diverted over 109 million items of packaging waste from landfill while earning over £1,183,450 for schools, charities and non-profit organisations.   
Committed to being Considerate!
We are delighted to work with so many hotels who are committed to responsible hospitality, and are proud to be supporting them on their sustainability journey.

Check out our website & get in touch if you would like to find out more about joining our Considerate network!
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