Newspaper Conservation Program

Green Ideas for Hotels

Newspapers given to each occupied guestroom is a wasteful concept. And lots of green hotels follow the practice. Being a green hotel doesn't mean giving up hospitality, and hospitality doesn't justify being wasteful.

Take stock of how many guests really want to read the newspaper and distribute that many. Habitat Suites in Austin, Texas, has determined that about 1/3 of their guests enjoy having the paper. I'm sure your percentage will be about the same, but it will take research and effort to determine for sure how many papers to provide. Since you can't be expected to be psychic and know which guests want the newspaper, consider these options for making the papers available to the guests who want them.

• Have a table by the elevators where you leave newspapers
• Provide them at the front desk
• Make them available in the newsstand

Habitat Suites saves unused newspapers to use for cleaning windows and glass. Newspapers can also be used in the gardens as mulch, keeping weeds down. Or if you are composting food scraps, you could also build a "worm farm"; worm farms use newspaper as a worm medium and worm farm instructions can be found on the internet. And of course, newspaper that's not used for anything else should be recycled.