By Olivia Jayne Shepherd
With concerns over sustainability and the imminent climate crisis hitting the mainstream media, many businesses were forced to re-evaluate their impact on the environment and hotels were no exception to this. In this new era of striving for better environmental practices and awareness, the average customer is becoming more aware of their contribution to the damage of our environment, which means adapting your hotel to fit the changing demand is perhaps more important than ever before.
SUSTAINABLE AND ECO-FRIENDLY CLEANING PRODUCTS :
When considering sustainability, the damaging environmental impact of cleaning products is too often overlooked. The concern of waste created from such products is a similar issue to that of plastic bottles, with packaging ending up in major landfills and in our oceans. In addition to the waste created, the chemicals found in many cleaning supplies end up washed into our streams and rivers, with some chemicals even entering our food supply. Perhaps the biggest concern in a hospitality environment is the impact of cleaning products on air quality. Volatile organic compounds, which are commonly known as VOC’s, found in many products, can have a significant effect on indoor air quality as well as increasing the levels of outdoor smog. Hotel suppliers like Hotel Buyer stock eco-friendly cleaning products, to help you keep up with the changing demands of your guests.
TOILETRIES
Toiletries are a staple for every hotel, therefore, by switching to more eco-friendly toiletries, you make a huge step in becoming more sustainable and drawing in the new generation of guests to your business. Hotels can select from a growing selection of toiletries suitable for a variety sustainable and eco-friendly needs, including vegan products and products free from parabens, GMO’s, Silicon, BHT, Phenoxyethonal, Petroleum and EDTA. Prija ,a toiletries line also stocked by Hotel Buyer, is both vegan and dermatologically tested, as well as free from the chemicals previously listed above, making it a popular choice for many hotels because it meets the needs of most guests.
If you currently supply your guests with toiletries in single use miniature bottles and tubes, consider a switch to refillable dispensers which are more sustainable for obvious reasons. Nick Hart of Hotel Buyer explains why refills also make economic sense; “Refills are around 40% cheaper to purchase than the equivalent volume of product in miniature bottles. Even where customers have had to fit rooms with refillable dispensers, we have seen them recover that capital cost within 4 months of switching to refillable toiletries.” Nick goes on to say; “There was a time when refillable were seen to be ‘cheap’ or downmarket, but consumers are starting to understand the environmental impact of disposable miniatures and so communicating that rationale to your guests is relatively straight-forward.”
