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Reviews the development of environmental management, with specific reference to its effects
on service industries in general and the hospitality industry specifically. The impact of
environmental management on the hospitality industry was tested using a postal survey of
hotel managers. The likely effects of environmental management on the hotel were
determined.

 


General review

 

Environmental impact; Environmental management; Green issues; Hotels; Service industries;

Strategy.

  
International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management

 
7


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1995


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Initially, concern about the environment was related to those industries which caused direct
pollution of the environment through their effluents and discharges. Throughout the 1980s
and 1990s, environmental pressures have come to affect a wider range of industries until now
most industries are affected. At the same time, the concern has now become much broader,
relating not only to outputs of the operation but to the whole system, including inputs and
processes[ 1, p. 14].
The hospitality industry is an interesting case in that it exposes many of the conflicts which
arise when implementing environmental policies. First, many hotels and restaurants are
situated in areas of outstanding natural beauty, in historic cities and in areas with a delicate
ecological balance. The addition of new hospitality facilities may attract visitors to areas
which already suffer from too much tourism. For this reason there are often serious planning
constraints when developing a new hospitality facility.

Second, many of the customers who seek hospitality services do so expecting to be

pampered, with lashings of hot water, high-pressure showers, freshly laundered linen, an
ample supply of towels, copious supplies of food and drink, the availability of swimming
pools and saunas and the limousine to take them to the airport. Clearly, whatever is done to
reduce waste can only be done either with the consent of the customers or in such a way that
they do not notice any deterioration of service.

Third, the customer visits the location of the hospitality operation, which is fixed by
customersƍ needs and therefore cannot always be sited where there will be minimized effect
from traffic, cooking smells and the noise of the disco. This local environmental pollution
may not be an issue on the scale of those considered by the Rio Conference, but it does affect
peopleƍs attitudes towards the industry.

The hospitality industry is not one which causes gross environmental pollution nor does it
consume vast amounts of non-renewable resources and therefore it may not be in the front
line for environmental concern. It is made up of a large number of small operations, each of
which consumes relatively small amounts of energy, water, food, paper and other resources,
and each of which adds only a small amount of pollution to the environment in terms of
smoke, smell, noise and chemical pollutants.

However, if the impact of all of these small individual operations is added together the
industry does have a significant effect on global resources. This is the dilemma ± how can we
persuade companies involved in the hospitality industry (many of them small independent
operators) to take environmental management seriously? Will the push of legislation, the pull
of consumer pressure groups, together with the financial savings which can result from
reducing waste, force all companies to take environmental management seriously? This
article reviews some of the developments within the industry as examples of responsible
environmental management, and investigates some of the attitudes of managers involved in
the hotel industry in the city of Edinburgh.

The main themes for discussion are:

„ What is the balance between global policies and local action?

„ How are general concerns translated into individual action?

„ How much will companies contribute to the ³cost´ of protecting the environment?

These last two points are particularly difficult to answer in the case of small operations, such
as are the majority of hotels and restaurants. Many individual operations may feel that they
are too small to have any real effect, that these services are very price sensitive, and that the
customer would soon go elsewhere if asked to pay any of the cost of environmental
management.
Environmental management is a broad term, covering issues such as: environmental impact
(aesthetic, cultural, ecological and social); sustainability; resource management; and
pollution. This article concentrates on the management of existing hospitality operations in a
manner which is sensitive to the principles of sound environmental management, rather than
on issues concerned with the building of new hotels and restaurants.

 
 
 
 
 


It is possible to consider environmental management as a hierarchy of policies and actions:

„ global environmental policies;

„ national environmental policies;

„ responsibility of business;

„ local action.

Environmental problems must be tackled at all of these levels. There is a need for global
policy making and target setting, such as the Montreal Protocol of 1987, which set targets for
CFC emissions. The European Union has brought in a large number of Directives which
relate to the management of the environment. Many of these have been, or are being,
implemented as national policies. Environmental management is also important to the
individual company, since many are now being measured not only on their financial
performance but also on their responsibility towards the environment. This affects both
shareholders and consumers [1, p. 18].

Some of the milestone events in recent environmental history include:

„ Clean Air Act;

„ Department of Environment established;

„ publication of ³Limits to Growth´;

„ formation of Green Party;

„ Control of Pollution Act;

„ Montreal Protocol (CFC emissions);

„ Treaty of Rome;

„ Bruntland Report (sustainable development);

„ HM Inspectorate of Pollution;

„ European Environmental Agency;

„ White Paper on Environmental Strategy;

„ Rio Earth Summit Conference;

„ UK National Sustainability Plan.

Environmental management can be traced back at least 40 years to the post-war years when
the expansion of industry was seen to be causing damage to the environment and to the health
of people. Initial concern was with gross pollution caused by the discharge of toxic materials.
However, the interest of environmentalists developed a concern not only with the outputs of
industry but also with the input side of the equation with the realization that stocks of many
raw materials were being depleted at an unsustainable rate.

Sustainable development, which is one of the cornerstones of environmental management,

covering a broad range of areas from the maintenance of physical resources, the protection of
biological systems, plant and animal species and natural habitats and the preservation of
cultures, may be defined in a number of ways:

development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future
generations to meet their own needs[2].

we have a moral duty to look after our planet and to hand it on in good order to future
generations [3].

Global and national interest and the development of policy will, by itself, not be effective in
inducing change. There are five main forces for change:

„ legislation and codes;

„ fiscal policies;

„ public opinion;

„ consumer pressure;

„ financial advantages resulting from saving resources.

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The principles of environmental management have been established in the framework of

British Standard BS 7750: Environmental Management Systems[4]. This standard, which has
many parallels to ISO 9000 on Quality Management Systems, outlines a number of stages in
establishing these procedures in any organization. The suggested stages are:

„ formulating environmental policy;

„ ensuring total commitment of all in the organization;

„ carrying out an environmental review;

„ determination of responsibilities within the organization;

„ preparing a register of environmental effects;

„ establishing objectives and targets;

„ implementing management systems;

„ commissioning periodic environmental audits;

„ performing regular systems reviews based on performance.

The first step in this process is usually considered to be the development of a written
environmental policy, which should cover general principles including a total commitment at
all levels of the organization, together with: strategies for complying with laws, codes and
company standards; the identification of responsibility within the organization; and the
involvement of partners, including suppliers, servicing companies, customers and the local
community.

To be totally effective, the adoption of environmental policies must come from the top.
Without a commitment at the highest level of the company, it is unlikely that ideas developed
throughout the organization will flourish. Some companies are starting to incorporate
environmental values in their mission statements. To be effective, this vision must be
converted into clear objectives and targets together with effective monitoring, control and
communication[1. pp. 40-7 ].
The next step is to conduct an environmental audit of the organization[5]. From this it is
possible to identify a number of areas for improvement which can be defined in terms of
precise targets against which achievement can be monitored.

An environmental management system can be seen as having a number of linked aspects:

„ á

 :
|„ develop partnerships with suppliers;
|„ identify sustainable products;
|„ choose products with sensible packaging.

„ X   :
|„ minimize waste in operations;
|„ reuse as much waste as possible;
|„ the segregate of waste which can be recycled.

„ X 
:
|„ establish partnerships with disposal companies;
|„ ensure disposal methods are sound;
|„ only use land-fill disposal as last resort.

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There was not all that much interest in environmental management in the hospitality industry
until the development of the International Hotels Environment Initiative, which was launched
by the Prince of Wales. At this time, 11 major international hotel chains agreed to work
together. The first practical outcome was the development of a manual on environmental
management for hotels[6]. More recently, the Hotel Catering & Institutional Management
Association (HCIMA) and the World Travel and Tourism Council have established an
initiative on environmental management awareness[ 7]. The programme, known as ³Green
Globe´, has as its main objective the aim to provide practical and low-cost means by which
hospitality companies can:

„ commit themselves to undertaking environmental improvements, based on
international guidelines;

„ receive expert help in environmental management techniques, based on international
best practice; and

„ demonstrate their commitment through a publicly recognized green globe logo.

There are a number of specific issues which relate to environmental management of the
hospitality industry. First, there are those that relate to the customer, who visits the
establishment as a part of the experience and who may arrive with images of luxury, comfort
and indulgence. For example, the use of soap and shampoo dispensers may reduce waste but
may be contrary to customer expectations[ 8]. Second, the business usually has a local
customer base, has a strong identity with the local community and is often a part of the local
tourism product.

The hospitality industry is not a dirty industry in the sense that it causes gross pollution or
releases toxic materials into the environment. It is typical of many small companies,
particularly those in the service sector. What damage do hotels do to the environment? The
industry consumes valuable raw materials such as energy, water, food, wood and plastics.
There are a number of undesirable emissions, including CO2, CFCs, noise, smoke, smells.
The industry wastes energy, water, food and packaging and many of these waste materials
require disposal. There are also issues about the environmental health of staff. Because of
location, the industry may encourage the use of the private car rather than public transport.
Some of these issues may seem to be relatively unimportant and yet are significant when
added together. As an example, the overall consumption of gas by UK hotels for heating and
hot water results in 5 million tons of CO2 emissions every year and costs £130 million each
year.

In addition to legislation and local codes, public opinion and consumer pressures can have a
significant effect. Whilst this last point may not seem to be important, the example of
McDonaldƍs demonstrates the force of environmental pressure. This company was confronted
with a whole range of issues related to animal rights, tropical rain forest destruction and
damage to the ozone layer caused by CFCs in packaging materials. This forced McDonaldƍs
to develop green policies[ 1, pp. 16-17].


 
 

 '

There have been a number of surveys in the USA, in an attempt to identify consumer
attitudes to hospitality and the environment. According to Feiertag[9], a number of US hotel
groups have generated consumer interest by having environmental policies and operations. In
a survey of frequent travellers, 75 per cent of customers said they were environmentally
minded consumers and 54 per cent of customers said they were environmentally minded
travellers and that they wanted to stay in hotels that show concern for the environment.
Research in the US indicates that customers are not willing to pay extra to fund green
policies[10, 11]. However there have been some interesting pilot schemes whereby guests to
a locality are encouraged to contribute to local environmental protection schemes[12 ]. The
concept of hotel classification based on environmental testing has also been developed in
some areas such as Thailand[ 13].

This raises the interesting question of whether environmental management will increase the
operating costs, which must be passed on to the customer. Environmental management does
not have to involve capital intensive projects and may not necessarily introduce increased
running costs. Indeed, where poor management is linked to waste, sound environmental
management can reduce costs[14 ]. This means starting with a programme of staff training
together with the initiation of low-cost, easy-to-achieve projects. Once progress has been
made and confidence established, it is possible to move on to projects which require
moderate investment. It is advisable to leave high investment projects until the principles
have been accepted and benefits established.

Taking food waste as an example, research in the late 1970s and early 1980s on food waste in
UK hotel and restaurants[15 ] indicated that 15.5 per cent of edible food was wasted. A
similar figure for hospital catering departments was 30 per cent. These figures represent a
high monetary value because of high value-added associated with the waste of prepared
food[16 ]. It also represents a waste of energy because the food has been transported, stored
and cooked. Much of this waste can be controlled through sound management practices.

Most examples of successful environmental management are in the area of energy

management, where there are clear motivations in terms of financial savings. A survey in
1987 indicated that 33 per cent of hotel groups had invested in computerized energy
management and/or property management systems, 30 per cent in heat recovery and 23 per
cent in combined heat and power[17]. In addition to energy consumption in heating,
ventilation and air-conditioning (HVAC) applications, catering areas can also be prolific
consumers of energy[18].

In the UK, the Energy Efficiency Office (funded by the Department of Environment), in
conjunction with the Building Research Establishment, has developed a programme on
energy efficiency in the hotel and catering industry[19]. They have developed a number of
case studies on good practice in the industry. These case studies show that in hotels there is a
wide variation in energy costs in the UK, from £300 to £1,000 per bedroom per year. They
project that is possible to make 5 per cent savings through good housekeeping measures and
10 per cent savings by using relatively low-cost measures. Heating, air-conditioning and
ventilation systems are the highest cost areas (29 per cent) followed by lighting (21 per cent)
and catering (15 per cent).

As an example of the case studies, one describes the InterContinental Hotel at Hyde Park
Corner, which was able to reduce energy consumption from 870 kWh/m2/ annum to 575
kWh/m2/annum between 1980 and 1992, a saving of 34 per cent. This was done through a
mixture of methods including changing lighting, recovering heat from refrigeration
equipment, energy management systems on boilers and staff awareness campaigns. Another
example is the Forte Crest Hotel in West Yorkshire which converted to energy-efficient
lighting to reduce energy costs by 45 per cent and replacement costs by 85 per cent.

Waste management and waste disposal has been another area of concern[20]. The importance
of differentiating between waste minimization and waste disposal management is critical in
this area since it is much more effective to prevent waste in the first place than it is to manage
the waste once it has been produced[21]. The list below shows a hierarchy of waste
minimization going from the most desirable form of disposal at the bottom, to the least
desirable at the top:

„ landfill ± most damaging;

„ incinerate ± recover energy content;

„ recycle ± recover material for reuse;

„ reuse ± reuse the material with no processing;

„ minimize ± use minimum packaging, eliminate waste.

Other areas of concern have included the change from the use of CFCs in refrigeration
equipment to new gasses which will not damage the ozone layer[22].


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A questionnaire was sent to the general managers of 145 hotels in the city of Edinburgh, of
whom 53 replied, a response rate of 37 per cent. The first issue raised was, ³Do the hotels
have a policy statement?´. This was seen to be important because of the central role of a
written policy[23], as described by the HCIMA in their Technical Brief on Environmental
Issues[24]. According to this brief: Every business should have a policy statement which
should as a minimum make a commitment to: the concept of sustainable development;
practical action to protect the environment.

Of the hotels that replied to the survey, 19 per cent had a formal written policy statement
covering environmental management. Most of these had started this policy between one and
three years ago. There was no significant difference in the distribution of these replies
between large hotels and small hotels (less than 20 rooms). Similarly there was no significant
difference between the response of independent hotels and those which were part of a chain
or consortium.

Of those hotels who had established a policy, the most frequently stated improvements
resulting from this policy were:

„ savings on heating;

„ recycling bottles and cans;

„ purchasing of biodegradable detergents;

„ changed policy on towel provision;

„ installation of low-level lighting.

In addition to the specific questions about policy, all hotels were asked about the perceived
effects of environmental management on the business. Respondents were asked to rate a
number of statements related to the expected impacts of environmental management on a 5-
point scale, going from 1 = strongly disagree to 5 = strongly agree, with 0 = do not know.
The statements were, a programme of environmental management will:

„ increase profitability;

„ increase customer satisfaction;

„ improve employee satisfaction;

„ improve relationships with the local community;

„ help with our public relations;

„ give a marketing advantage over our competitors.

Some of the result from the survey are described below. Since the number of respondents
involved is small, only descriptive statistics are used and these result must be seen as
indicative only.

Mean scores indicate that overall most people saw positive effects of environmental
management, with the greatest effect being on the local community and public relations, as
shown in Figure 1. Given the work of the Energy Efficiency Office in establishing clear
financial benefits from energy management, it was interesting to note that an increase in
profitability was not seen as the most important effect.

The difference in responses from those in small hotels (less than 20 rooms) and larger hotels
is shown in Figure 2. In terms of profitability, customer satisfaction and employee
satisfaction there was little difference between the response of small and large hotels. There
was a greater difference in the areas of public relations and marketing, where the larger hotels
perceived greater benefits.

The influence of ownership is shown in Figure 3. In general, independent hotels envisaged

less significant benefits when compared to those hotels which were part of chains or
consortia. As with the effect of size, the most striking differences were in the areas of public
relations and marketing, with the independent hotels seeing less of an advantage.

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