In Boulder, CO—a city that prides itself on being “green”—it’s probably not surprising that many businesses work to incorporate environmentally friendly practices into their operations. But at the St Julien Hotel & Spa, a 201-room luxury hotel just steps away from Boulder’s Pearl Street Mall, environmental sustainability is not just practiced, it’s become policy.
While the concept of global warming has been a part of our national conversation for more than two decades, a definitive consensus on the issue has yet to take hold. Yet, no matter which side of the debate consumers fall, more and more of them are seeking out the companies that are working toward environmentally friendly practices—and they’re rewarding those brands with their business. It seems like every third advertisement I run across these days has some sort of “green” message. But at the St Julien, we made a conscious decision to pursue environmentally sound practices not as a marketing benefit, but because it’s a cause in which we truly believe.
Don’t sacrifice style
The St Julien Hotel & Spa began, in earnest, its quest in becoming a sustainable hotel in 2007. The challenge for us was in not only becoming a sustainable hotel, but doing so without sacrificing luxury. Therefore, we knew that to meet the expectations of our guests, the St Julien would need to implement changes that would not hinder the guest experience.
Working with an environmental consultant (Boulder-based UHG Consulting), we looked throughout the property for ways to reduce, reuse and recycle. Immediate success was realized through less-invasive measures: upgrading guest-room lighting to energy-efficient CFL bulbs and changing the lighting in our exits signs to LED bulbs; installing low-flow toilets (less than 2.0 gallons per flush) throughout the building; and utilizing low-flow rinse nozzles in the kitchen dishwashing stations. We substituted bromine for chlorine in the pool—and even purchased a fuel-efficient diesel van for local hotel transportation.
These were all relatively inexpensive, yet highly effective initiatives that run counter to one of the largest concerns businesses often express about going green. Namely, that it requires an enormous upfront investment. And to be honest, this can be true. But to begin implementing positive, eco-friendly changes, hotel operators needn’t jump into the deep end. Efficiencies, I would argue, are realized over time. Green is only expensive when you make large, upfront investments and expect immediate results. The key here is to implement small and think long-term.
Among other environmentally friendly practices—which virtually bear no cost burden to the operator—is a technique we began implementing called waste diversion. Admittedly, at first, consideration the process of waste diversion seemed rather trying. “Waste diversion,” by definition, is the rate in which waste produced by a given property is diverted from landfills for recycling, re-use or composting. When we began looking for methods to implement this practice it seemed the St Julien staff was presenting me daily with new ways to use our current resources and materials. With the cooperation of my staff, we were able to repurpose our waste output in unique, meaningful ways and we recently attained a 70% waste diversion rate for August; we consistently hover around a 63.5% diversion rate.
Here are some turnkey ideas your establishment may consider:
• Substitute cloth towels in bathrooms for disposable ones.
• Use pitchers of water rather than
plastic bottled water for meetings/conferences.
• Buy bulk condiments rather than
small bottles of ketchup and hot sauce.
• Recycle electronics at your local recycling center and donate gently used towels, linens, bedding and other fabrics to local homeless shelters and other nonprofit organizations.
• Give scrap construction materials
to a local resource yard for repurposing.
• Donate used fryer oil to a third
party who will use the substance for biodiesel.
Keep it real
At the St Julien, we measure our progress through internal waste audits as well as waste hauler weight reporting. Our last major audit showed that the St Julien Hotel reduced its waste to landfill from 33 tons per month in 2007 to 4.75 tons per month in May 2011, an 85.6% reduction. Our efforts have been recognized, from both guests and the industry. In fact, the 2011 SpaFinder Readers’ Choice Survey recently recognized the Spa at St Julien for “Best Environmental Practices.” The honor was presented to 10 international awardees—chosen from more than 80,000 spas worldwide—whose dedication to the local environment epitomizes eco-friendly, sustainable practice
When it comes to making your hotel greener, the bottom line is this: Make sure your efforts are genuine and over time your efforts will pay off. Consumers and hotel guests alike are savvy when it comes to the green conversation. They can read genuine efforts to making a community better and, in turn, dismiss ploys to gain public attention. Running an eco-conscious hotel is not about being fashionable; it’s not a fad. It is about altering the way you run your business and institutionalizing the green lifestyle.
Peter T. Walstra, CHA is general manager of St Julien Hotel & Spa in Boulder, CO