North Carolina Law Encourages “Green” Hotel Practices

In January 2008 when North Carolina’s state “ABC” law went into effect, the focus was primarily on bars and restaurants. The law requires Alcohol Beverage Control permit holders to recycle all their containers—glass, plastic, and aluminum. About 18% of beverages are consumed on premise, and glass makes up to about 80% of that mix.

But conventions centers and hotels have also had to respond to the law, and many have not just started recycling their glass bottles and other containers, but are initiating a variety of “green” practices.

Asheville’s Grove Park Inn Resort and Spa recycles over three tons a month of glass and other containers, and have added recycling to all 512 guest rooms. And at The Umstead Hotel and Spa in Cary, glass containers (about 40%) and cardboard make up the majority of their recyclables, and then food residuals are sent to a farm for composting, getting them close to zero waste.

It didn’t take much for The Grove Park Inn Resort and Spa, which began recycling in 1993, to meet North Carolina’s 2008 law requiring all ABC permit holders to recycle containers. They started by expanding to the golf course beverage service areas, and this year added recycling to all 512 guest rooms.

They recycle about 3.3 tons a month of containers, primarily glass, from five on-site restaurants and two additional bars. About a quarter of everything they recycle is containers. “We also have a beverage cart on the golf course that sells beer, so we needed to add recycling containers to the golf course,” says Maggie Young, Grounds and Recycling Manager for the Inn.

Glass bottles and other containers are collected together in “slim jims” or 55-gallon totes. When full, they are wheeled out to the loading dock and stored in a 30-yard dumpster for pick up. Glass and other recyclables are collected by Curbside Management of Asheville, NC and then sent to Strategic Materials, Inc. in Raleigh for further processing to be used for new glass bottles and jars.

According to Young, the biggest challenge to recycling is convenience. “We have to make it convenient for employees to recycle so that it becomes automatic, and I think we’ve become successful with that through container placement, especially in the bars and restaurants.” They are able to save money recycling by avoided trash disposal fees. And recycling efforts have become more of a positive with customers recently, according to Young. “People want to know that their beer bottle is not going in the trash.”

The Umstead Hotel and Spa located in Cary is also subject to North Carolina’s law requiring all ABC permit holders to recycle containers. So in 2008, they created a Green Team, and in the past eight months have made “huge strides in terms of glass recycling,” according to Brent Dexter, Director of Revenue Management and Chairperson of the Green Initiative at the hotel.

Glass containers, mostly generated at the bar, make up about 40% of their recyclables. Food residuals, which are sent to a farm for composting, and corrugated cardboard make up the other large portions of items recycled.

Most of the recycled glass containers are wine bottles. “With a sommelier in charge of our 5,000-bottle wine collection, we go through a large quantity of bottles,” says Dexter. Glass containers are also used for serving sodas in the restaurants, liquor, beer, and mini-condiment bottles.

Glass is collected behind the bar and then taken to the loading dock and picked-up three days a week by a subcontractor for Waste Management. According to Dexter, they have minimized dramatically the amount going to trash and have been able to reduce the number of trash pulls. “My accountant is very happy we started the green team,” says Dexter.

Another benefit of recycling says Dexter is the change in staff attitudes. “Our staff is seeing how much they can do with recycling, and that they are doing something to make a difference in the environment,” says Dexter. “We hope they take these green practices home with them as well.”