York Hilton implements an Environmental Management System

The Hilton in York has recently launched a plan to make environmental improvements and has asked the York and North Yorkshire Business Environmental Forum for help and advice. The hotel is basing their work on the new national standards for Hilton Hotels and is looking to develop their ideas into suitable strategies for the York branch.

The first step has been the appointment of an Environmental Champion, Katy Ribton who is the Assistant Front Office Manager. Katy is now also in charge of reducing waste, increasing staff awareness, increasing recycling and making the hotel more energy efficient. These objectives are the same in any business.

A recent staff training day, led by Katy and the General Manager Anthony Worrall, illustrates how the York Hilton has recognised that staff training and staff input are vital initiatives for achieving environmental success. This was delivered to raise awareness about wider environmental issues, explain how staff members can help make a difference at work (as well as in their own homes) and encourage staff to come up with their own ideas. This type of training is necessary to raise environmental awareness especially if changes to everyday routine are to be made.

There are a number of actions that the hotel is currently undertaking, with little extra cost. These include placing water savers in all toilet cisterns, fitting energy saving light bulbs, and recycling various materials including glass bottles from the bar and restaurant, cardboard boxes, office paper, newspapers and ink cartridges. As this environmental management system takes its place within the business further actions will be identified. The Hilton group will also be considering their supply chains and will not be using suppliers with bad environmental practices. To improve the hotel chain nationally the York Hilton is now required to report its monthly use of energy and water. This will start a campaign for the reduction of resource use by Hilton Hotels as it aims to lead the hotel sector in environmental management and contribute to a more sustainable society.

By achieving particular environmental goals the Hilton is looking to become accredited to the Green Globe, which is a world-wide bench marking and certification program that facilitates sustainable travel and tourism for consumers, companies and communities. It is based on Local Agenda 21 and can be found at www.greenglobe.org.

Another source of information in the hotel industry is 'Hospitable Climates'. This is a partnership between the Hotel and Catering International Management Association (HCIMA) and the Government Programme 'Action Energy'. It focuses on energy efficiency in response to the need to reduce carbon emissions in the hospitality industry. It is a free scheme to which you can sign up to and use a benchmarking tool through HEATonline. You can download a registration form at www.hospitableclimates.co.uk