The Connacht Hotel has achieved a major milestone in its push for sustainability, achieving Silver status in the internationally recognised Green Hospitality programme.
Green Hospitality is the only Irish developed environmental certification standard for the hospitality sector, with awards recognised around the country, and the world.
The accreditation and guidance allow hotels and other businesses in the hospitality sector to improve their environmental performance.
The Connacht Hotel formed its Green Team in November 2018 to look at the changes it could make within its own business, with a committee team drawn from all departments.
The success of the programme can be seen in the numbers, with overall waste from the hotel dropping by 40% in the next year.
Overall recycling levels have also gone up by 34% in the same period, and a big effort has been made with glass waste in particular, with 41% more now getting recycled.
Based on this improvement, and many more initiatives, the Connacht Hotel recently took him the Green Hospitality Silver Award for introducing an Environmental Action Plan focusing on Energy, Waste & Water Management.
“We have a lot of work done but we are all aware this is a Journey but we are committed to making the most sustainable choices in all aspects of our business and we have seen the benefits across our business,” said Eveanna Ryan, Group Sales and Marketing Manager at the Connacht Group.
“We live by the statement, ‘it’s not about one person doing it perfectly but a collective doing their best and making daily changes’,” Eveanna added.
Good green business practices have been a big concern for tourists in recent years, with people looking for places to go that embrace environmental sustainability.
This accreditation allow tourists to choose “Greener” hospitality businesses knowing that defined criteria are being implemented and monitored.
Other initiatives such as a “carbon neutral day” was initiated in November 2019, where on the day staff took public transport or carpooled to work, eliminated all unnecessary printing and the team were served meat free meals in the staff restaurant.
This served to inform and form new habits and enough carbon was saved on the day to service a return flight for one person from Dublin to New York.
