Intercontinental Adelaide Goes Zero-Waste-to-Landfill

The Intercontinental Adelaide hotel in Australia has achieved zero-waste-to-landfill status a year ahead of schedule.

The hotel (pictured) has targeted sending no waste to landfills by the end of 2012, but figures reveal that over the last three months it recycled 100 percent of its waste. Waste management company SITA supplied the hotel with system that that enables the hotel to separate its organic waste and recyclable materials from the general waste stream.

The announcement means that the Intercontinental Adelaide has surpassed all goals set by Intercontinental Hotels Group as part of its corporate responsibility program.

In 2006 IHG calculated that the carbon footprint of a single guest room was the equivalent of an average sized home, prompting the creation of the group’s “Green Engage” program. IHG instructed all of its 4,400 hotels worldwide to re-examine their green strategies and respective carbon footprints.

According to a 2009 survey by the Two Tomorrows sustainability agency, IHG is one of only three hotel chains – along with Accor and Marriott – that see sustainability management as “important for protecting and creating commercial value,” Matthew Cortland, senior consultant at The Natural Strategy, wrote in a recent column for Environmental Leader.