InterContinental Adelaide has achieved a ‘zero landfill’ standing a year ahead of schedule with figures released demonstrating the hotel has recycled 100% of its waste in the past three months with absolutely no waste going into landfill.
The hotel has surpassed all targets set by InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) as part of its Corporate Responsibility Program.
InterContinental Adelaide General Manager, James Allen said the hotel was setting a new benchmark in waste management.
“We set our targets to have 100% recycling of waste and zero landfill by the end of 2012 and we have achieved it a year earlier than expected,” Allen said.
“IHG has instructed all 4,400 hotels around the globe to re-look at their ‘green’ strategies and respective carbon footprints. InterContinental Adelaide has taken this direction extremely seriously and I am hugely proud of everybody involved.”
In 2006, IHG calculated that the carbon footprint of a single guest room was the equivalent of an average sized home. It was from this startling discovery that the IHG “Green Engage” program was born.
The Green Engage program is IHG’s own comprehensive sustainability system and enables all of the group’s hotels to monitor and manage environmental impact. The Green Engage program is the first hotel sustainability management system to be endorsed by the US Green Building Council.
One of Australia’s leading waste management companies, SITA has been responsible for delivering InterContinental Adelaide a “source separation resource recovery platform” that enables the hotel to separate its organic waste and recyclable materials from the general waste stream.
SITA Major Accounts Manager, Christopher Plummer said the key to success was making sure recyclables were returned back into the productive economy.
“Through the partnership between InterContinental Adelaide and SITA we have ensured all the remaining dry materials are manufactured into a processed engineered fuel at the SITA Resource Co Alternative Fuels facility in Wingfield. This fuel is then used as an alternative to fossil fuels for firing cement kilns at Adelaide Brighton Cement,” Plummer said.
“I am so impressed with InterContinental Adelaide’s commitment to zero waste and the way in which they are doing it. It truly is a complete zero waste solution.”
Allen said purchasing decisions, supply chain and procurement priorities were all integral to the achievement of sending no waste to landfill.
“This has been a real team effort. It has not been easy but with everybody so committed to achieving the result, we have managed to succeed. Our sister hotels are all pursuing this zero waste goal with vigour.” he said
Since it began actively monitoring and addressing the environmental impact of its hotels in 2007, IHG continues to reduce year-on-year water and energy consumption, carbon emissions and landfill waste at every InterContinental, Crowne Plaza and Holiday Inn hotel in Australasia.