Hotels and hospitality venues generate massive amounts of waste daily, with significant amounts still ending up in landfills or going to incineration.
A comprehensive recycling strategy can go a long way in addressing this issue.
Setting up effective recycling practices doesn’t have to be complicated, especially when you have the right partner to guide you through the process.
As a first step, adding design-led recycling stations throughout your spaces is a great way to show your commitment to the environment, elevate the guest experience, and enhance your brand image.
Let’s explore the benefits of recycling, key steps to create an efficient recycling programme, and actionable tips to maximise sustainability efforts.
The Importance of Recycling for Hotels & Hospitality Venues
Boost Brand Reputation
Eco-conscious guests are drawn to venues that reflect their sustainability led values. A way to show them your commitment to sustainability is by implementing a clear and effective recycling programme as it’s something that all guests & visitors engage with. It’s a simple way to build your reputation as an environmentally responsible, forward-thinking brand while supporting the UK’s plans to reach net zero by 2050.
Enhance Guest Experience
Did you know each guest generates around one kilogram of waste per night? Adding convenient recycling stations allows them to engage in responsible disposal. Offering in-room recycling and visible recycling stations in common areas lets guests feel that they’re part of a positive environmental impact during their stay, creating a memorable and meaningful experience.
Reduce Environmental Impact
The UK hospitality industry generates around 1.1 million tonnes of food waste a year, and 289,700 tonnes of this is from hotels.
Effective recycling programmes reduce the volume of waste sent to landfills, minimise carbon emissions, and support your hotel and hospitality venue in achieving key sustainability goals.
Achieve Cost Efficiency
Recycling reduces disposal costs and, in some cases, can generate revenue from recycled materials. This approach can cut operational costs and align with broader financial and environmental objectives.
Steps for Implementing a Successful Recycling Programme
Set Up the Right Infrastructure:
Engage Guests with Clear Communication
Place cards or pamphlets in guest rooms to explain your venue’s commitment to sustainability and provide simple recycling instructions. Guests are more likely to participate when they understand the impact of their efforts.
Strategically Place Recycling Stations
Position premium hotel bins where waste is typically generated, such as entrances, hotel corridors, dining spaces, meeting rooms, and event venues. Conveniently located recycling stations help guests and staff participate more easily and effectively in recycling efforts.
Clear Signage Stations for Easy Use
Clear, colour-coded signage and graphics with specific waste streams help guests and staff segregate recyclables correctly. Using common colour codes, like red for plastic, can simplify the process and achieve higher recycling rates.
Conduct Regular Waste Audits
Waste audits help you identify where waste is generated most and assess your recycling strategy’s effectiveness. Track waste volumes to make data-driven adjustments, upgrade recycling stations, and set achievable reduction goals.
Provide Staff Training
Staff play a key role in achieving the objectives of a recycling strategy. Regular waste separation and contamination prevention training ensures staff are knowledgeable and ready to guide guests when needed. It also empowers them to engage more in recycling initiatives, helping to increase the overall recycling rates. Discover on-site workshops, virtual training sessions, or customised modules.
Equip back-of-house areas, like kitchens and staff rooms, with stations and waste streams designated explicitly for cardboard, plastic, tins and food waste. This empowers staff to engage in proper waste disposal and reduce contamination rates.
Meet Legal and Industry Standards
Compliance with local recycling regulations is a must. Staying up-to-date on legal requirements can help your hotel remain compliant, avoid potential fines, and strengthen your hotel’s environmental commitment.
Gather and Act on Guest Feedback
Feedback can reveal valuable insights on how guests view your recycling programme and suggest areas for improvement, making the process more effective and guest-friendly.
Share Environmental Achievements
Celebrate recycling milestones with guests and staff, such as the amount of waste diverted from landfills. Share these successes via in-room materials, newsletters, or social media to inspire loyalty and encourage sustainable practices.
Simpler Recycling Law in England: What You Need to Know
England’s recycling practices are set to undergo a major transformation with the introduction of the ‘Simpler Recycling Law in England ‘
Starting 31 March 2025, councils across England will adopt a standardised recycling system, requiring households and businesses to separate waste into four streams:
- Food Waste
- Paper & Card
- Mixed Recyclables (Plastics, Metals, Glass)
- General Waste (Non-Recyclables)
This unified approach aims to simplify recycling, reduce contamination, and increase recycling rates. For businesses, including hotels and hospitality venues, the policy presents a crucial opportunity to align with sustainability goals, lower waste management costs, and enhance their eco-conscious reputation.
Learn more about the new Simpler Recycling law to ensure your business stayscompliant.
Unisort’s Contribution
At Unisort, we support you in implementing recycling solutions tailored to hospitality venues and hotel needs. We work with you to identify your hotel’s or venue’s waste profile and design a solution that boosts recycling rates and reduces contamination. Our process is end-to-end, from consultation to implementation, ensuring that your strategy meets your goals and enhances guest and staff engagement.
Our solutions include:
- Customised Recycling Stations: We offer a wide range of premium stations designed for hotel and hospitality environments. Our stations can be fully tailored with clear, customisable signage to reduce contamination and boost recycling performance.
- Behavioural Engagement: Through signage and strategic placement, we engage guests and staff, making recycling a simple, easy, and accessible option. We know that recycling success is much more than just bins; it is about behavioural change, which reduces general waste and increases recycling rates. See Unisort Climate Recycling Stations.
- Comprehensive Service: Our process includes a thorough consultation, custom solution design, and ‘white glove’ delivery service, ensuring seamless integration into your operations.
- Workplace Recycling Engagement Training Sessions: Bring your team together for focused sessions that align your business’s recycling goals with the daily actions of your staff and management. Educate them on the benefits of recycling and watch as their efforts make a real impact. After all, effective recycling begins with a well-informed and motivated team.
- Used Bin Takeback & Recycling Service: If you currently have outdated bins and often find mixed recyclables, it’s a sign they might not be driving the right recycling engagement. Our Used Bin Takeback & Recycling Service provides a simple, hassle-free solution to elevate your recycling efforts. We collect all your old recycling bins (no matter their volume) when delivering your new, upgraded stations. This process doesn’t disrupt your operations, and we ensure that the materials from your old bins are recycled responsibly, helping you avoid adding unnecessary waste to landfills or incineration. You also contribute to corporate responsibility, as we separate and recycle the materials of your old bins for you
By partnering with Unisort, you can promote sustainable practices, improve recycling rates, and achieve significant reductions in plastic waste and CO₂ emissions, all while supporting your guests’ values.
Hotels and hospitality venues have a unique opportunity to lead the way in sustainability through effective recycling. With the right infrastructure, ongoing staff training, and clear communication with guests, these establishments can reduce their environmental impact, cut costs, and enhance the guest experience.
Embracing sustainable practices benefits the planet and strengthens your brand’s reputation. By working together, we can contribute to a more sustainable future for the hotel and hospitality industry. Contact us.