They are the second largest hotel in the city which is why it’s news that the Radisson Hotel is going green. That’s right, you can call the hotel eco-friendly because they are recycling and reusing just about everything from coffee ground to broken pint bottles. Keith Swift found out more.
Keith Swift Reporting,
This fork, this spoon, and this plate look and they feel like the disposables we use almost everyday but they’re not. And if you don’t believe me then – look at it burn – it melts almost perfectly without the black smoke and the smell. It actually smells more like corn than it does like burnt plastic. They are called bio-degradable disposables - part of a line of products sold by Eco-Friendly Solutions – products like these environmentally friendly cleaners and these plastic bags also made of corn. Natalie McNab Cortez is the sales manager.
Natalie Cortez, Eco-Friendly Solutions
“We first started with the waste water treatment systems that can take sewage and turn into reusable water. We have environmentally friendly cleaning solutions that are degreasers, sanitizers, they get the work done incredibly well without as much chemicals. We have dual valves for toilets that you replace your standard toilets with these fixtures in your toilet and you have a choice of flushing with a half flush or a full flush. The same toilet you have at home we can adopt to be able to save that water. We also have purification systems for drinking water and right now we have the new member to the family is the bio-degradable disposables.”
And the best part about these bio-degradable disposables is that they self-dispose.
Natalie Cortez,
“In 150 days more or less you can put all your trash, disposable plates, cups, knives, forks, straws in trash bags that are also not only biodegradable but digestible into trash, into your garbage and it will turn to dust compost-able as opposed to 1,400 years of foam or 450 of plastic.”
Eco-friendly solution’s products are in use at the Radisson hotel as part of its best management practice initiative.
Pat Lamb, Sales Manager – Radisson Hotel
“They are some best management practices that we have overtaken. We are utilizing our old linens as cleaning rags. We are incorporating some of their items that they have to offer, the plastic bags that are biodegradable, we are already using those in our Le Petite and we are using some of their cleaning solutions.”
Recycling is a major part of the hotel’s initiative. Example A is instead
of throwing away coffee ground the gardener mixes it with black dirt – which is then used as compost. It’s good for the plants and smells good. They also recycle cans, paper, and the broken bottles.
Pat Lamb,
“Starting very shortly is that there will be a sign that goes into our guests’ rooms to let them know what we are doing towards the environment and having them assist us. So they have the option of whether we give them clean linens everyday. We currently also buy some ink, recycled ink toners from one of the local companies. So there is quite a bit that we are doing. In addition too we purchase herbs from the Liberty Children’s Home in assisting towards that program as well. But we try to do a lot of little things to help with the environment.”
But helping the environment is costing Radisson. Manager Jim Scott says it is worth it.
Jim Scott, General Manager – Radisson Hotel
“Not all of these efforts are cost saving at all, actually they cost more to have these functioning. We are actually utilizing products that are saving us money, that is when you look at our water conservation programs, our electricity program and energy saving areas there, the light bulbs that we are using, Eco-Friendly Solution also has these motor energy saving capacitors or whatever.
We made a deal with them and we said, ‘you say these products work,
we know what our electricity bills have been at the current cost of electricity – you install them at your cost, put them in, and we’ll test it for two months, if our electricity bill goes down, we will pay for them – if not you use your labor and take them out.’ We did that and let me tell you there were considerable savings. We had savings in our electric bill and we wrote the check, we said thank you very much.
So we’re utilizing those products as well as some of the cleansers and chemical products that they have that are also friendly for the environment. And again some things we are saving and some things we are actually elevating our operational costs on but at the same time it is our responsibility to Belize and to our industry to make these conscious efforts to improve the place that we live in.”
And these eco-friendly products can be economically friendly if government takes action because it costs more to import these bio-degradable disposables than it does the regular plastic plates and cups.
Natalie Cortez,
“The biodegradable disposables are so new that we are needing to get some help from whichever department of government or tourism or wherever to see the need to be able to offer this product to everybody so presently the product is a little higher but we’re hoping that that will be negotiable to where everybody can get use to it."
And with these eco-friendly disposables – doing that now seems easier than it ever was. Reporting for 7NEWS, Keith Swift.
Eco-Friendly Solutions is located at mile 4 on the Western Highway. For more information you can contact them at ecofriendlybze@yahoo.com.
