SAN DIEGO—The Sheraton San Diego Hotel & Marina expanded its commitment to sustainability and green practices with the official launch of a comprehensive food waste recycling program. The hotel’s food scraps are now diverted to the City of San Diego’s Greenery, where restaurants and hotels are able to turn breakfast, lunch and dinner leftovers into renewable products, including compost.
In mid-summer, the Sheraton teamed with Waste Management of San Diego (WMSD) to implement a comprehensive program aimed at diverting 100 percent of its food waste and capturing the majority of the recyclable commodities from its waste stream. With their sights set on zero waste, and just three weeks after the program launched, the Sheraton’s Marina Tower boasted an 80 percent diversion rate, which reduced the property’s waste bill and has every employee on the property thinking green.
Conservatively, the Sheraton believes they will now divert more than 200 tons of food waste from the landfill annually and an equal amount of commodities. In the first three weeks of the program, the Marina Tower’s diversion rate jumped from 15 percent to 80 percent, with a goal of reaching 90 percent by the end of the year.
“Food separation and diversion, coupled with single-stream recycling, dovetails perfectly with the rest of our green initiatives throughout the property,” said John Ford, hotel manager. “It doesn’t hurt that our financial and environmental goals are aligned perfectly—the more material we can divert from the landfill, the lower our waste bill is.”
Ford and his team shared this promising best practice at the Starwood Hotels Rooms & Engineering Conference. The zero waste event was held earlier during the summer at the hotel.
Compost: A Valuable Resource
“Food waste is a major opportunity for beneficial reuse so we are pleased to help the Sheraton San Diego Hotel & Marina expand and manage this program,” said Jason Rose, vice president and general manager of Waste Management San Diego and Orange County. “The hotel’s food waste can be transformed into a valuable resource such as compost for farmers and landscapers. It also cuts trash collection frequency, which ultimately reduces fuel use and greenhouse emissions. The result is a greener San Diego for residents and visitors alike.”
WMSD has helped enhance recycling practices at the Sheraton to create a more environmentally-friendly system that has significantly reduced the overall waste stream. In the first three weeks of the program the hotel achieved more than a 300 percent increase in diversion and recycling as compared to previous months. Sheraton and Waste Management officials estimate that more than four times the amount of material will be diverted from the landfill in next 12 months, compared to last year.
“We are excited to be working with Waste Management to preserve and protect our environment and create a more environmentally-friendly hotel for our guests,” continued Ford. “Our goal is to continue to improve our recycling program and serve as a model green business in San Diego as well as our industry.”
