Willard Intercontinental CSR Report follows Global Sustainable Tourism Criteria
Sunday, 26 Jul, 2009
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Tea at the Willard
Washington DC’s Willard InterContinental Hotel, a leader in Sustainable Hospitality, has this week released its second Sustainability Report for 2008.
The new report follows the Global Sustainable Tourism Criteria (GSTC) the internationally recognized criteria for Sustainable Development practices in tourism. The report highlights the results of the hotel’s strategy based on the "Triple Bottom Line" of Economic Prosperity, Social Responsibility and Environmental Protection.
The 2008 report is available online along with detailed information on the Willard’s sustainability initiatives at www.willarddc.com/sd. The report examines the Willard’s environmental and social performance against the previous year’s report of the hotel’s sustainable development initiatives which began in 2005, as "Willard InterContinental, The Next 100 Years."
The new report also benchmarks against the hotel’s first SD Report for 2007, published in 2008 according to Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) Standards. The Willard’s SD achievements in 2008 over the prior year include an 82% increase in recycling, 33% increase in composting and a 27% reduction in landfill waste reduction, among others.
The GSTC was recently launched by the United Nations Foundation, United Nations Environmental Program, UN World Tourism Organization, and the Rainforest Alliance. EnviRelation, which produced the report, provides service to those in the hospitality industry to help manage their relationship with the environment from waste management to data collection and reporting. The organization was sought out by the Willard to produce the Sustainability Report.
"The Willard enjoys a legacy which is summarized in its vision as "America’s Hotel" stemming from its location between the two most powerful political institutions of the world – the White House and the U.S. Congress – and its history," explains Hervé Houdré, the hotel’s General Manager. "We feel that we have an obligation to our industry and our world to show the way through Sustainable Hospitality by ensuring that the legacy of our property remains strong in the years to come."
"The Willard’s Sustainability Report represents another important step in furthering to the encouragement of hotel SD reporting through accepted metrics and frameworks," commented Walker Lunn, EnviRelation’s founder and manager.
The Willard’s Environmental Program Achievements Include; 100% wind energy to power the hotel; Decreased electricity consumption by 12%; Built two water wells in South Africa and South Dakota via towel/ sheet re-use; Green chemicals for in-house laundry; 100% removal of toxic dry-cleaning chemicals; Hotel-wide usage of 30% recycled paper; Composts 37 tons of food waste; Recycles over 190 tons of waste ; Decreased landfill waste from 870 tons to 635 tons; 100% elimination of oil-based paints. The hotel now offers guests a "Going Green" Guide in partnership with Xerox, offered online at the hotel’s Web site, or on recycled paper.
Valere Tjolle
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