[Interview - Maria Croci, Manotel] - “A series of small measures that have a global impact”

Limiting water flow, replacing bulbs, fitting devices to avoid unnecessary consumption, preventing extreme air conditioning, composting organic waste, etc. In the hotel industry, there are many actions possible. An update with Maria Croci, director of Kipling and member of the Manotel Group's sustainable development committee.

A year ago, "Youth for soap" was born, an initiative by the Espace Entreprise's apprentice business employees to prevent waste by collecting used soaps from hotels and recycling them. Manotel was the first hotel to support this action, providing soap for recycling and becoming an important financial partner. Why did you decide to support it?

Maria Croci: The idea came from the realization that a huge amount of soap ends up in dustbins used hardly, if at all. For the 62-room hotel I run, we’re talking about 500 grams to 1 kilo per day. And for the group's six hotels (over 600 rooms), this amounts to one ton per year. Some people from the hotel had been thinking about the question, and then the young people from Espace Entreprise came up with the idea of collecting, cleaning, grating and reconstituting soaps to make them look like new and respecting hygiene standards. These are then distributed to Geneva associations helping poor people in the canton.

Is this project part of a broader initiative?

M.C.: Yes. We started a sustainable development initiative twelve years ago. We drew up a 10-point programme, divided into 4 areas: our customers, our employees, technology and energy. At the time, we were among the first, and in 2008 had won the cantonal sustainable development prize. Our programme has now become a standard and today, as hoteliers, we believe that these points are part of our responsibility.

What environmental actions are you taking with regard to your customers?

M.C.: We not only give our customers the Geneva public transport card, we also encourage them to use public transport. We also post our commitments in the rooms and ask customers to reuse their towels. Before, we gave the money saved by this measure to WWF. Now we give it to Youthforsoap, as the various partners are trying to develop this project with laundry, body lotion and shower gel, which will require additional investment. In addition, a second soap machine will probably be needed, as we are in discussion with new hotel partners.

More broadly, what are you doing to reduce your energy consumption?

M.C.: Since 2014, we have been working with the energy agency for the economy (Agence de l’énergie pour l’économie - AEnEC). Each of our six hotels has its own “Voluntary climate protection and energy efficiency” certificate. The agency draws up a charter with actions to be undertaken. For example, we fitted flow aerators to the taps to limit the flow of water (9 litres per minute at the tap outlet, compared to 17 to 18 litres without them), without having any impact on the pressure. We fitted them to taps and showers, which are among the greediest items in terms of water consumption. We also insulated the pipes to prevent heat loss.

Air conditioning is an important factor in terms of energy. Have you found a solution to this problem?

M.C.: For air conditioning, we have made sure that the temperature of the room cannot be lowered below a certain threshold. The minimum temperature of the room depends on the outside temperature, meaning that the difference between the two is limited.

It should be noted that despite the fact that some customers like it to be very cold in their rooms, this system mainly prevents any abusive use of air conditioning. 

What about the so-called unnecessary energy consumption?

M.C.: We have set up a system of cards instead of keys: these make the electricity work. So when a guest leaves his room, everything is switched off. As far as energy efficiency is concerned, we have been replacing our light bulbs with LEDs in all public areas (restaurant, lobby, corridors) for years and are in the process of doing so in the rooms. It must be understood that this is not necessarily simple, because it often involves changing the entire lamp, not just the bulb.

We have also replaced the circular pumps in order to be able to programme water flow according to how much is being used. We are doing the same for the ventilation in the bathrooms. We also regularly clean the air extraction columns so that the air vents work properly and are not obstructed. Another thing: in one of our hotels, we have fitted sun filters to windows that get a lot of sun to prevent the rooms from overheating. These are all measures aimed at avoiding unnecessary consumption.

In the hotel and restaurant industry, food left-overs and cleaning runoff are a challenge. How do you deal with it?

M.C.: We have a special container for food scraps and cleaning runoff, so that they can be composted. In general, we sort 17 different types of waste, making sure they do not get mixed up with each other. 

Did you encounter any difficulties when you introduced these various actions, particularly in terms of energy savings?

M.C. In the Geneva hotel industry, we work with people from all over the world. There may be disparities in practices depending on where visitors come from. 

What advice would you give to other institutions that would like to take environmental action?

M.C.: You have to start by getting people involved, especially at the beginning. Sorting, for example, requires more work than just throwing everything in a bin bag. Today, it is a little easier to get these ideas across, because people are much more aware of this issue.

There is also a financial aspect: if the buildings are not new, work must be carried out, which is costly and can therefore be an obstacle. But in principle, you ultimately get back what you’ve invested: it’s an important argument without which it’s more difficult to motivate people to take on such work.

Collective awareness is necessary, and it’s important for everyone to contribute to this effort. Example: just because you’ve got an economical water flow system doesn’t mean you should let it run longer.

It’s a whole series of small measures that have a global impact and result in cost savings. But it is true that these small measures are not visible and are difficult to highlight. That's why we work with labels, which mean that we can justify, prove and make visible what we do. 

Interview and text by Aline Yazgi for the Genie.ch team.

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