City commends businesses that recognise waste as a valuable resource
19 December 2024
Last week, Alderman Grant Twigg visited Hotel Verde, recognised as Africa’s Greenest Hotel, which received the prestigious Net Zero Waste certification from the Green Building Council of South Africa (GBCSA)—a first in Africa.
Following this, the hotel goes beyond the partial reductions of solid waste to landfill and the negative ecological impacts. Hotel Verde’s journey to achieving Net Zero Waste was guided by two core strategies - sustainable purchasing policy and waste separation and composting.
The certification establishes the hotel as a pioneer in the hospitality industry for its outstanding waste diversion initiatives. Hotel Verde achieved an impressive 93% diversion rate for operational waste over 12 months, surpassing the required 90% landfill diversion rate.
‘The City commends organisations and businesses such as Hotel Verde for not viewing waste as mere refuse destined for landfills. Instead, we must recognise waste as a valuable resource,’ said Alderman Twigg.
Some of the initiatives Hotel Verde currently implement include:
Encouraging suppliers to adopt innovative, reusable packaging solutions.
Prioritising environmentally responsible procurement reduces its carbon footprint and significantly cuts down on waste.
Clearly labelled bins for recyclables and food waste, promoting sustainability among guests and staff while supporting environmental conservation.
Food waste is removed by a separate commercial composting company that composts the food waste and sells it as their own product. A small portion of the food waste is kept and composted on site to provide the compost needed for the hotel’s gardens.
Guests are incentivised to partake in the sustainable lifestyle at Hotel Verde by offering them rewards for certain activities or for abstaining from others. An in-house currency has been developed for this purpose called a Verdino. A Verdino can be used anywhere in the Hotel as real money for things such as meals at the restaurant or curious and the gift shop and kiosk.
Staff receive continuous training and educational talks so that sustainability is not just their job but also their lifestyle and they take what they learn back to their homes and communities.
Each week a different staff member is assigned to assist with the sorting of the recycling waste in the waste area including Maria Delicio, the owner of the Hotel Verde.
Wherever possible the office is a paperless operation and items are only printed if absolutely necessary.
Within the staff there is a Green Team consisting of around 10 members who meet weekly to discuss matters regarding sustainability. This includes creating sustainability goals and targets, assessing progress, bringing forward and implementing new ideas as well as planning ways to celebrate environmental days and holidays to create guest and staff awareness.
Hotel management is astounded by the amount of food waste guests generate. Through meticulous waste separation and composting efforts, the hotel has successfully composted over 46,803 kg of food waste, resulting in substantial carbon savings.
As Hotel Verde continues its sustainability journey, its next goal is to achieve Net Positive Waste certification by further increasing waste diversion efforts and collaborating with stakeholders to minimise difficult waste streams.
‘Waste is everyone’s business and with the increasing generation of waste in our City, I want to encourage other key stakeholders in the hospitality industry to join the waste diversion and minimisation journey towards a greener future said Alderman Twigg
Captions 1-3: Alderman Grant Twigg, Mayoral Committee Member for Urban Waste Management with David Pollock, Chief Technical Officer for Hotel Verde.
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Published by:
City of Cape Town, Media Office
