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ON THE ROAD TO MORE RESPONSIBLE TRAVEL
According to The Global Business Travel Association (GBTA) a growing trend which looks set to continue is the blurring of corporate and personal lines. People now expect to maintain practices and principles adopted in their home life when conducting business. Responsible citizens want to be responsible travellers too. Here we suggest a few small steps and a reminder of how our partners rise to the challenges set by well-informed guests.
The European Union has recently declared war on throw-away items such as plastic drinking straws, lively coloured bottles that do not degrade, coffee cups, lids, stirrers, cutlery and takeaway packaging. Their mission is for every piece of packaging on the Continent to be re-usable and recyclable by 2030.
Since the start of this year, there certainly seems to have been a groundswell of renewed environmental awareness and commitment. Perhaps this is, in part, due to the BBC's Blue Planet programme which presented a dramatic picture of ocean plastic pollution? As viewers responded emotionally in the affirmative - yes we must curtail the impact of our present habits on the oceans - organisations have become particularly vocal about their own measures. For instance:
- in London there will be a new programme of water fountain installation so the public can refill cups and bottles easily.
- London City Airport has clamped down on plastic straws in their food and drink outlets. These will be replaced by biodegradable paper straws on request.
- Eurostar has announced new pledges to fulfill over the next three years, including reducing their use of plastics by 50%. This will impact on bottles currently given out to passengers. Ultimately they aim to eliminate paper ticketing too.
- three of the country's biggest coffee shop chains have agreed to offer free tap water to passers by - even if they don't make a purchase at the outlet - to reduce the use of plastic bottles, as part of an initiative promoted by Water UK.
The EU aims to wage war on throw-away items such as coffee cups.
A Few Responsible Traveller Steps
Not everybody would claim to be an 'Eco-Warrior', but most people are keen to learn about and to follow small changes in practice in order to reduce negative impact in the environment around them. Here are just a few suggestions to consider whilst on the road:
1 Avoid using disposable coffee cups. Take the time out to drink from a mug within the establishment, for instance. Some outlets are now selling their own branded re-usable takeaway cups. If a single-use item is unavoidable, seek out 'certified compostable' signs.
2 To reduce use of plastic in a hotel room, some organised travellers take their own toiletries from home and re-fill for their next overnight stay.
3 Carry a re-fillable BPA-free water bottle with you on your travels.
4 Say no to plastic more often. This might include avoiding single-use plastic sachets; hanging on to disposable cutlery for future use; packing non-plastic cutlery from home for those occasional takeaway meals rushed down in the hotel room.
5 Remember to hang towels and robes up again after use - usually recognised as an 'I'm happy to use these again' signal.
6 Use the 'Do Not Disturb' sign more often; does your room really need to be cleaned every day during your stay? How often does your linen need laundering? This will help reduce cleaning products and save the electricity consumed in vacuuming.
7 Conserve water by taking showers rather than baths as considered more economical. According to greenhotelier.org, water accounts for 10% of utility bills in many hotels.
8 Pack lighter: less baggage consumes less fuel when carrying a traveller to their destination.
9 Hold your travel managers to account; do they partner with accommodation providers who recycle; operate sustainability programmes; respect the surrounding landscape; support their local economy and communities?
Newspapers, Marmalade and Bees - Rising to the Challenge!
Under increasing scrutiny from travel managers and guests, our accommodation, conference and events partners - it is always pleasing to discover - continue to rise to the challenge with ingenious ethical programmes. There are so many important programmes we could share, but here are just a few of the most recent to come to our attention.
Red Carnation Hotels considers sustainable luxury as a core business value throughout each one of its 17 properties. One initiative they will be championing in 2018 is the RCH Green Team, where team members from each hotel meet on a monthly basis to share best practice, hear from experts in the sustainability field and throw their own suggestions into the ring. Staff have also recently enjoyed Green Carnation Week, where improvements were celebrated and communicated to guests and partners. Here are just a few innovations to share:
- all properties offer a digital media service, giving guests the option to reduce paper wastage and yet still enjoy their complimentary morning newspaper.
- the team is committed to reducing single-use plastic across the collection by introducing biodegradable or paper straws in bars, with the challenge of being completely plastic free by the end of 2018.
- minimising kitchen waste to delicious effect, the catering experts at Milestone Hotel have taken leftover oranges from the juice machine and transformed them into mouthwatering homemade marmalade for the breakfast menu.
Members of The Green Team enjoying Green Carnation Week
Jurys Inns Hotels have introduced a 'Bee Happy Hotel' at the Jurys Inn Manchester to provide sanctuary for worker bees seeking somewhere to hibernate over the winter. Marking the £2.9 million transformation of the Manchester venue, the Bee Happy Hotel was introduced to prevent the decline of the local bee population and seemed fitting as well as worthwhile since the worker bee has been adopted as the symbol of the city. The Manchester team has been educated on all the buzz about bees with help from the Manchester and District Beekeepers Association (MDBKA) and is enjoying passing on this knowledge to guests.
So, the message to newly-motivated business travellers is to ask questions of, and research into the conduct of, travel providers; you may be surprised to discover the impact of their ethical purpose is more far-reaching than you thought. A memorable mantra to repeat whilst setting off on the road to more responsible travel is - 'Refuse Re-use Reduce': refuse single-use plastic, re-use materials whenever possible as part of the global mission to reduce plastic pollution.
