Waste management aimed at eliminating waste sent to landfills

Traditionally, waste is classified as "material that remains unusable after a work or operation has been carried out." Waste is seen as something marginal that does not contribute any added value, linked to a linear economy where raw materials are extracted to manufacture new products.  These products are then used and discarded to extract new raw materials and thus make more products.

According to UN statistics, 11.2 billion tons of solid urban waste are collected each year worldwide (UN data and figures), which would give us an average of just over 30 million tons per day. Moving such a large amount of waste requires an impressive amount of personnel and material resources, logistics, and space. Waste can cause damage to the environment such as contamination of the subsoil, groundwater, seas, and rivers, or emissions generated by its decomposition.

In recent years, there has been an increasing awareness of the implications of waste management, and progress is being made towards a much more proactive form of waste management. 

Iberostar's Wave of Change movement, which promotes responsible tourism, is a clear reflection of this change in perception. One of its most ambitious goals is for Iberostar hotels to be free of landfill waste by 2025. This waste that goes to landfills is what is commonly known as general garbage. 

Several years ago at Iberostar, we started by eliminating waste that is harmful to the sea, such as single-use plastics. From there, we continued evolving and linked our waste management to our movement towards a circular economy. As opposed to a linear economy, a circular economy aims to ensure that the raw materials extracted to manufacture products remain in use, through the repair, reform, reuse, and redesign of these products.

This major change is based on three well-known principles that fit perfectly with the principles of the circular economy. Firstly, we look to “reduce” waste. Special importance has been given in this section to the reduction of leftover food waste, which in all-inclusive hotels can account for 60% of the total waste generated. Controlling the quantities of food produced for each moment and point of sale reduces organic waste thrown away by more than 50%. 

Secondly, we want to "reuse" instead of throwing away. We changed the way we offer products and services, promoting reusable materials, buying in bulk, the use of larger packaging, and much more. 

Thirdly, we recycle to try to re-generate new raw materials from waste to create new items. When recycling, it is essential to properly separate different types of waste in the necessary bins. It also requires clear signage at each point and instructions to help indicate how to dispose of it and where to take it.  

An essential pillar on the road to "zero" waste by 2025 are the 3Rs teams we created at Iberostar based on the aforementioned principles of reduce, reuse and recycle. Currently, these teams are operational at each one of our hotels in the Americas. These teams help determine how to separate waste, audit the correct separation at different points where it is generated, collect and transfer it for proper handling, make subsequent separations of those wastes that need a better classification, and much more. They are also in contact with authorized managers to achieve greater recovery of waste and thus grow interest in its proper management, in generating new raw material. The 3R team weighs the different types of waste every day to see the evolution in the fulfillment of our objective for 2025. 

Waste management is a process of continuous improvement. The more we understand about the products, the more opportunity we have to continue minimizing it.

This is a complex challenge, but certainly much less than when we started. 

Rafael Carmona,  Wave of Change PMO AME