The Ritz-Carlton, St. Louis has finished the first year of a program meant to reduce hotel CO2 emissions, and it has been successful. The project primarily focuses on composting, its fully operational in the hotel. In the first 11 months, hotel teams composted 415,000 pounds of unused food waste. The composted scraps are picked up by St. Louis Composting and sent to a facility in Belleville, Illinois. The compost is sold to homeowners and landscapers in the St. Louis area.
“We are making it a priority to educate all hotel staff on the importance of composting,” said Amanda Joiner, general manager. “The next phase of this initiative will see composting rolled out in our Club Lounge and Employee Dining Room – and we’re also hopeful that the practice may become a habit in our own homes as well.”
Between January and November 2016, the composting output of the Ritz-Carlton equated to removing 291 tons of CO2 emissions and 62 cars from the road. In 2017, they expect to increase the composting production.