Sustainability has so many definitions that it drives people a bit bunkers. What does it all mean? How do I make more business more sustainable? How do I know if I am successful on greening my business?

The answers are much simpler than people might think, well, at least for me and Ill tell you why.

To us at the Fifty Shades Greener office, a green or sustainable business is one that reduces it’s impact to the environment. Business affect the environment in 3 ways, by using energy, producing waste and using water.

In order to run an environmentally friendly business, you need to reduce your business utilities, and the best part of this journey is that not only you will reduce your business Carbon Footprint and impact to the environment, but you will also SAVE MONEY off your utility bills.

It is a win/win situation for business owner.

Yet, 99% of the Hotel owners I meet in my weekly routine, don’t have a handle on those 3 pillars of sustainability. So here are 3 top tips for a succ...

Last weekend the Irish Nation voted for change at the #GE2020, with the main two government parties not receiving enough votes to form a majority coalition. I am personally really happy that this is the desire of the Irish people, and of course, the raise of the Green Party to 12 seats.

The proposed raise of Carbon Tax by some political parties worries me, and makes me wonder, is that the “change” the Irish public want? Have we succumbed to believe the only approach to climate change is the raise in tax?

I personally believe there could be other initiatives to consider.

A few years ago, I completed a FETAC level 6 course on dog training. Now I am not comparing Irish citizens to dogs, that’s not mi intention at all! But hear me out for 20 seconds.

Dog training is all about positive reinforcement, reward positive behaviour instead of punishing negative behaviour.

There are trainers out there of course that do not follow this rule and punish animals for mis-behaviour. In most cases, ...

Hi guys!

I am back with the 50 Shades Greener thought of the week. Last Thursday I watched a documentary by Stacey Dooley on the Environmental impact of the fashion industry, and I was floored with the statistics!! I really had no idea that the clothing industry was so damaging, it actually is the second most polluting industry in the world, after Oil of course.

The Dark Side of Fashion

I learned that to make a pair of jeans, the industry uses over 21,000 litres of water, 21,000!!!! That is unbelievable. Straight away my mind raced to my wardrobe were I have 3 or 4 pairs of jeans that have not seen daylight in months. What a waste, I actually feel pretty guilty about it.

Here I am preaching to the Hospitality industry about the things we can do to save water, while my wardrobe alone possibly contains millions of litres of water. So we live and learn, and now I have the awareness I needed, my shopping habits will change. Not that I am a great shopper to be honest, since I moved to t...

So you have now decided to run a Greener business, you have formed your Green Team and you are rearing to go. If you are not there yet, have a look at my last two blogs, they might help you make the final decision.

Like it happens with any project, even with the day to day running of your business, you need your team behind you. You all need to work towards a common goal, in this case, reducing your business Carbon Footprint, becoming a Greener business and reducing your energy, water and waste bills.

But the Hospitality industry as I know it, is a fast paced industry. Introducing changes can be hard and people can fall into old habits quite easily as decisions might be made in a split second.

Sustainable culture

Embedding a culture of sustainability within your team, is one of the keys to success, and also one of the most difficult things to do.

If you have followed my past two blogs, you probably have created a winning Green Team by now, this is excellent progress, now you need ...

It is the start of a new decade! And 2020 will become the starting point of a change within our industries, towards a future that, hopefully, will have less impact in the Environment. The Hospitality & Tourism industry shall be not left behind, it is time that we, as Managers of the industry, strive to start implementing small changes that will result on a reduction of our utilities, our Carbon Footprint and our bills.

Contrary to the general perception out there, running a Green business CAN SAVE YOU MONEY. To me, greening your business means taking control and reducing your use of water & energy and production of waste, which in turn, reduces your Carbon and saves you money, it is a win-win situation for a tourism business.

One of the questions most of my potential customers ask on our first discovery call is “How do I get started?”. The answer is simple, it starts by choosing a winning Green Team.

Choose the right Green Manager

This might be yourself, or someone of authority wit...

There has never been a more important time to carefully select your Hotel suppliers, as more and more “Eco Products” come into the market.

Careful consideration needs to be taken when looking at new products not to fall under the “Green Washing” market.

I already spoke on a past Blog about compostable coffee cups, and I predict there will be a backlash from society about this product in the coming months. Hotels, restaurants & coffee shops all over the country replaced plastic take away cups for compostable materials, thinking they were doing their bit for the environment, even paying extra for those materials, only to realise a couple of years later that this is not the solution, in fact, it is enhancing the waste problem we have. 

Recommending suppliers is difficult

My customers often ask me for supplier recommendations, and I am normally slow to recommend any particular product, unless I know for sure the company I am recommending offers a real environmental alternative.

S...

The phone has not stopped ringing this past two months, with more and more Hotels interested in sustainability. I love seeing the mind-set of our industry managers changing, and becoming interested on running greener Hotels.

What Is Sustainability? 

Undoubtedly, there are misconceptions out there as to what “sustainability” means, in fact, the word itself does not really explain its concept. Many experts have different definitions, but to me and the Fifty Shades Greener team, sustainability for a Hotel should involve three clear pillars:

Water Conservation

Waste Reduction

Energy Reduction

The overall vision or goal for any Hotel wishing to become a Green property, should be a reduction of Carbon Footprint, and at its best, Carbon Neutrality. After Hotel Doolin’s announcement last month of becoming the first Carbon Neutral Hotel in Ireland, many hotel managers are looking to achieve the same - but Carbon Neutrality is not  a quick fix or something that can be achieved in a s...

Green Hotels are currently reaping the benefits of not having a huge amount of competition.

The Hospitality Industry, are very slowly moving towards sustainability, not realising the huge benefits that running a Greener Hotel can offer.

Make Strides Towards A Sustainable Business

Every week, I see social media posts about hotels or every larger chains of hotels making a pledge to abolish mini toiletries, or using only compostable take away cups, etc.

Yes, it is great to hear the industry is making small changes to reduce the enormous amount of single use plastics it creates, but running a Green Business, goes well beyond that.

I have worked in the Hospitality Industry for 20 years, I met my best friends working in Hotels and it has shaped me into the person I am today. You could say I LOVE IT. But I am also painfully aware of how damaging this industry is to the environment.

What really frustrates me, is that there are so many small actions, any Hotel Team can take on their daily...

Running an Eco friendly business is becoming more and more important in current times. Society is asking for change. Our customers of tomorrow, are the children of today, and they have been striking for Climate Action every week for the past year.

A huge opportunity lies for those businesses ahead of the curve, implementing Green Actions on their daily activities, to attract a large % of the market by setting themselves ahead of the rest.

Yet, the Hospitality industry is reluctant to embrace the necessary changes to create a Greener industry.

Environmentally Friendly Business Ideas For Your Hotel

Change is actually easier than most people think. It should not be viewed as an “extra task” to perform, it should consist on a change of mind set across all departments of your business and your team. It should be just the new way of running your business.

Many business owners still do not understand the concept of running a Greener business. The general perception out there, is that it ...

Are you looking to ‘green’ your business? There are many different components to running a Green business successfully. For us, at the Fifty Shades Greener Office, it all starts by learning how to control and reduce your use of Energy & Water and production of Waste.

How Can You Make Your Business Green?

Many people think that buying composable take away cups, containers, and other biodegradable materials means “Being Green”, but this is just a really small part of it. In fact, I am predicting that in the next 12 months we are going to see a backlash against these composable items. Currently, their life cycle is not working, and they are still creating a huge amount of waste. If a composable material is not disposed off correctly, and it ends up in landfill, it will not biodegrade as quick as we think.

Focus On Reducing Business Wastage

The reality is, the only way to sort out the huge Waste problem we have in the world is Waste Minimization. And that starts with single use items, ...