Six Eco Living Tips For Hotel Stays
If you’re staying in a hotel in the near future then there are a surprising number of simple ways to reduce your ecological footprint while fully enjoying your stay. In this way you can not only have a thrilling time away but also feel good about the positive impact you have made.
Reuse Towels
Many hotels now have systems in place to try to reduce laundry. Hotels often change your towels on a daily basis leading to lots of additional energy use in cleaning and pressing them. And while it does feel luxurious to have fresh towels every time you get back to your hotel, many of us can reuse our towels for a number of days without suffering.
Check with your hotel on arrival to find out how this may work. You may need to leave a note with housekeeping, while other hotels have an agreement that they will only change your towels if you leave them on the floor. If they are hung up on the towel rail they will be left for you to reuse them.
Stay For Longer Periods Of Time
In many hotels, bed linen is changed on a weekly basis. The sheets are merely tidied up the rest of the week. However it also follows that when you check out of your hotel room the staff there will change all the bed linen before the next occupant arrives.
This means that shorter hotel stays can lead to increased laundry and energy use so the longer you are able to stay at your hotel, the better it will be for your energy use. Short weekends away should generally be avoided.
Take The Stairs
Unless your bags are unrealistically heavy, try taking the stairs to your room rather than the elevator. The motor which powers the elevator uses unnecessary energy and you can cut down on it’s use by taking the stairs wherever possible – and giving you an extra workout into the bargain.
Use Your Own Toiletries
Hotels will often provide small toiletries for your stay. From tiny, individually-wrapped soaps to tiny bottles of shower gel and shampoo. Of course, whilst these additions are cute they create a huge amount of waste. All that packaging needs to be disposed of, and any “leftovers” too are likely to go in the bin.
By bringing and using your own toilettries with you, you will significantly cut down on all this waste as any “leftovers” can be taken back home with you.
Turn Off Air Conditioning While Out
If you’re staying in a warm country and your hotel offers air conditioning, ensure this is turned off before you go out for the day. Certainly it’s nice to get back to a cool room, but modern air conditioners only take a short while to take the edge off the heat so it is rather a waste of energy to leave the unit going all day while you’re at the beach.
Take Recyclable Rubbish Home With You
Check at the front desk whether recyclable waste is thrown away or recycled in the correct way. Many hotels simply don’t have the time or resources to go sorting all the rubbish they generate and so it is likely anything you throw away will go into landfill.
So check this out and if necessary bring your recyclable waste home with you so it can be processed in the most appropriate way, thus reducing the rubbish that ends up in the ground.
Related Eco Friendly Articles:
- 5 Ways To Use Your Garden For Recycling
- Eco Living – Green Careers
- 6 Eco-Friendly Tips When Moving House
Other Eco Friendly Articles We Recommend:
- 13 Easy Green Living Tips for Everyone (Home and Garden)
- Decorating Tips For Space Rugs (Home and Garden)
loading...
[...] Be green by considering how much trash you create while traveling and staying in a hotel. By using those cute little bottles of shampoo and getting fresh towels and sheets every day, we create a lot more waste and require much more energy consumption than we do at home. Here are some simple tips you can use to cut down on waste while you’re on the road. [...]