However, the by product of growth
and development are adding on to carbon footprint... plastic waste, food waste,
increased water consumption, excessive power consumption are the few challenges
being discussed quite often at various forums.
GreeOtels, a multi-stakeholder
forum to catalyze, mobilize and mainstream action on sustainable practices in
hospitality; organised Gujarat Summit at Pride Plaza hotel on 11th
May 2018. Well attended by the chiefs of major brands who are major stakeholders
of the hospitality industry in Gujarat shared their key initiatives which are
actually put into practice to conserve,
sustain, reduce and reuse.
The summit commenced with a
session from Kartikeya Sarabhai, stalwart of green movements and Founder of
Centre for Environment Education, Ahmedabad. He emphasised on urban lifestyle,
which needs attention in terms of cutting down on pollution and carbon print.
He shared highlights of Paris Agreement
formulated in 2015, which is aimed to combat climate change especially
Global warming. In current scenario the temperature has already gone upto 0.8
degrees Celsius and is likely to reach upto 4 degree Celsius as the highest
permissible limit, under the agreement, the environmental institutions are
putting it’s efforts to lower down temperatures by putting a cap on emissions
and pollution.
This was followed by a session
wherein Nirav Gandhi, MD – Express Hotels, Vadodara addressed challenges faced
in implementing conservation norms by hotel chains to Dr. Ashok Saxena – IFS.
He pointed out various issues like; the treated waste which has been processed
is not picked away by Municipal Corporation for the right use. At the same
point of time, the same waste cannot be discarded as normal waste. Hence there
is a gap in implementing policies... that amidst authorities and entrepreneurs.
The bigger setback in facing such problem is that lot of investment, efforts
and energy have gone into treating waste (implementing the policies).
Deepak Gadhia, trustee Muni Seva Ashram, near Vaodara – Gujarat; a name
known for bringing in Solar Revolution, shared his journey in terms of
developing various formulations for tapping solar energy which is freely
available natural resource. He also works on bio gas and alternate energy and
recently has been appointed as Chairman of Sunrise CSP; who develop, supply and
support world leading Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) technology for the
development of cost-competitive, utility-scale electricity generation and high
temperature industrial process heat systems.
Leaders of major hospitality chains
had a panel discussion wherein they shared their initiatives towards
sustainability and efforts put in Corporate Social responsibility.
“The Ummed Hotel, almost on daily
basis uses 40 kg food waste to produce bio gas which is reused for cafeteria
food production, hence saving waste, reusing energy saving LPG is one of our
best practice. Second use of food waste is; after a week’s treatment the waste
food becomes manure which is used in our gardens”, mentioned Koustuva
Mukherjee, General Manager, The Ummed – Ahmedabad.
Sudip Kumar Maity, General
Manager – Madhuban Resort & Spa located at Anand; added, “We currently have
1146 tress which have been retained and in addition to this we have planted
46000 more saplings, adding to the green cover. We are going to invest Rs. 3.25
crore this year on CSR, focussing on sustainability projects. Madhuban has the
largest compost machine in Gujarat, 11 acres farm cultivating organic fruits
and veggies which are used for cooking food served in buffet meals. Hence, we
just don’t have a green environment, but lot of green practices, the benefits
of which are passed on to our clients as too...”.
Sanjay Kaushik, Area General
Manager, Crown Plaza – IHG Group, added, “We are the only hotel in the city
which is Gold LEED certified. We have a
program termed as Green-Engage which sensitizes the entire workforce to practice
some initiatives which not only save energy, but create energy as well. We are
breaking traditional myths, like keeping the pilot burner on in the kitchen is
a standard practice and various others are implemented, backed up with a highly
efficient team”.
“At Pride Plaza hotel, the
ownership feeling is transferred to the employees so that they become sensitive
for the environment, hence a very small initiative has been take up, that; every
employee owns a tree, 152 employees, each have a tree to daily water and take
care of... besides this, rather than cost cutting, we are running an initiative
termed as ‘Waste cutting’, also termed as ‘Green banqueting’ focussed on
minimizing food waste. Additionally, we have stopped giving envelopes with
invoices, which saves a lot on paper, as the envelope lands into a dustbin,
with no use as such...” , added Amit Singh, General Manager of Pride Plaza –
Ahmedabad.
The hotels also have initiated campaigns
like ‘Cool biz’; i.e controlling the temperatures of rooms, a bit higher than
chilling, maybe 24 degrees, which is optimum, and discourage wearing blazers which
is a compulsion, again a norm brought in by English men !!
Apart from this, promote using less
bottled water which adds to plastic waste, using RO water more, probably a
fresh and cleaner option, as hotels use the best water purifiers, those of international
standards.
Adding live counters on buffets
have helped in minimising food wastage, as only what is required is cooked and
served immediately.
Gaurav Shorey, founder of Swaraj
– a movement or a revolution of going back to roots and adapting to natural
local material available than just aping British to project as modern or
evolved civilisation said.. “Our nature, our culture are the real treasure
which need to be used properly and honoured.. something like using glass panels
on exteriors of building has not only added to the surrounding temperature but
the interior space too gets transformed to a hot air balloon..” being an
architect himself by profession he has a list of questions which ruthlessly
challenges the modern approach which has added to the worries & woes,
worsening the scenario by setting such practices as industry standards. Thus, principles
of Swaraj are based on – Dialects, Diet, Dresses, Dwellings, Dances and Songs.
All the efforts had been put by
Dilip Thakker, owner of Gopi Chain of Restaurants and Minakshi Agarwal –
Founder member of Greenotels.
The mantra promoted by GreenOtels
is : “If you cannot reuse, refuse it...”
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