Rotana Corporate Sustainability Report 2014

74 Waste In the last two years, across Rotana hotels, we have improved our waste management programme to eliminate, minimise wastes at source as well as to reuse and to recycle it. 90% of our hotels are monitoring and reporting on general and recyclables waste production and segregation. Some of the achievements under this programme include: Rotana deals with qualified waste contractors in different countries to further expand recycling and reduce waste production by training our colleagues and making recycling more convenient and comprehensive for them. Four programmes were developed to underpin the waste performance results: Waste management programme, hazardous waste management programme, food waste management programme, Green Office Programme. The programmes are rolled out to all Rotana properties. The progress outside the UAE is slower owing to the lack of recyclables collection companies in certain countries of operation. Nevertheless continuous efforts are taken to reduce general waste generation. All group operations report their waste management performance on a monthly basis. This discipline has helped us improve our understanding of the nature and quantities of the resources we use and the waste generated. Waste disposal methods vary across our operations, largely due to available solutions and infrastructure in the communities where we operate. We contract with several asset disposal companies to recycle our e-waste as well, including computers, servers, printers, network equipment and associated components to divert it from landfill disposal. Several hotels work with various charities to reduce wet waste and hazardous waste collection companies for fluorescent tubes, paints, solvents and dry cleaning chemicals. In 2014, UAE Rotana hotels’ waste segregation efforts resulted in saving more than 29% on waste disposal expenses and reduced 10% kg wet waste/guest night from 2013. Increase of recycled waste by more than four times, from 160 tonnes in 2011 to 1019 tonnes in 2014. In 2014, Rotana UAE hotels paid various contractors around 250,000 USD to collect the hotels’ general waste. In parallel we were able to successfully generate an amount of 100,000 USD from recyclables waste segregation including glass, paper, cardboard, plastic, cans and used oil. As for used cooking oil, we have recycled 40% of the total used. Some of our hotels outside the UAE do not have full data about their waste generation, because of non-availability of service provider qualified. The scope of this indicator is only the UAE hotels. In 2014, 1,019 tonnes of dry waste and 122,603 litres of used cooking oil were diverted from landfill for reuse and recycling. Compared to 2013, we reduced the waste we generated by 733 tonnes and increased dry waste segregated by 75.5 tonnes. Food waste Food security and food waste is an especially important issue in the Middle East. Globally, 30–50% (or 1.2–2 billion tonnes) of all food produced is lost before reaching a human stomach. Food waste is most significant component of hospitality waste and we do recognise our role to reduce food waste in our hotels, much of it preventable by better portioning, managing, storage and/ or preparation. A study was done in five hotels in Abu Dhabi in collaboration with Masdar Institute to analyse the quantity of food wasted per food cover produced for a lunch buffet, breakfast buffet, a la carte menu and including Iftar Ramadan buffet. Based on the relatively high results, a food waste reduction programme was launched for all food and beverage department colleagues to implement. We are aiming to report separately the quantities of food waste per cover per hotel to better monitor hotels performance. We can still further improve our waste management performance by continuously monitoring and improving our practices and most importantly involving our colleagues as well as guests and suppliers. Food composting machines are installed in some of our big hotels, and several meals are donated daily to charitable organisations and labour camps. Al Bustan Rotana, UAE The hotel joined hands with Royati Society in 2009 and designed a mechanism in coordination with the local authority to pack and dispatch back up food from events, weddings and big catering functions. The project runs throughout the year and in a ceremony it was highlighted by the society that Al Bustan Rotana contributions were top in the list exceeding 6,000 meals in the year. The hotel managed to conserve wastage, environment and made sure the food that is still perfect to eat, reaches those ones who are in need. The activity has multi-dimensional impact on the environment, the community and the hotel’s financial expenses.