Whitbread to cut carbon emissions by 26%
Whitbread has pledged to cut its carbon emissions by 26% across its 580 hotels and 375 pub restaurants by 2020.
The hospitality company, whose brands include Brewers Fayre, Taybarns and Table Table, launched its sustainability strategy on the day it was awarded the Carbon Trust Standard.
It also unveiled plans to build a second "green" hotel in Burgess Hill, West Sussex.
Through its Good Together Sustainability Strategy Whitbread has pledged to:
• Reduce carbon emissions by 26% in the next 10 years
• Divert 80% of waste from its hotel and restaurant sites from landfill by 2012
• Install gas and water AMR meters to measure the output at all Premier Inn sites by 2012
• Trial a number of energy saving schemes, such as applying solar film to hotel windows to help keep rooms cool, over the next few years
Chris George, head of energy and environment at Whitbread told BigHospitalitythat many energy-saving initiatives had been implemented already across Premier Inns and some of the restaurants over the last three years.
"I was conscious that in the hospitality industry there was no target set to reduce carbon emissions, so I started looking at what we could do in our company to save energy," he said.
"We've looked at 30 key initiatives such as using renewable technologies and installing LED lights and are trialling lots of different ways to do it."
George said all Whitbread staff had been briefed on how they could help with the company's mission and cards detailing how guests can help save energy had been placed in every Premier Inn room.
Between 2007 and 2009 Whitbread said it saved 8,562 tonnes of CO2, the equivalent of taking 2,446 cars off the road. George said he believed the company could cut its carbon emissions by 2.4% over the next five years, increasing to 3.5% for the next five with the new initiatives.
