In this piece I will offer some handy tips that any Hospitality business can take to start reducing their waste production, and what happens when you produce less waste? You save MONEY off your waste bill! 

Waste is one of the most colossal challenges of our times. Waste production continues to increase, Ireland is facing a potential waste mountain with no place to go, for some facts and stats continue reading to the end of this blog. 

What is one of the first but most important steps to start reducing waste at your hospitality business?

Check your bins

It's a simple task but certainly not one that people want to engage with. I myself have carried this task out during my time as green manager.

However one thing is for sure, I learned from it and I in carrying out this onerous task, we managed to reduce our waste by 30% in one year. 

Investigating your bins allows you to understand what waste is produced at your business, so you can then take the necessary action to reduce some ...

The linear economy or “take-make-use-waste” model is being exposed for its severe negative consequences environmentally. 

Society is realising that our systems are no longer serving us. On our current trajectory worldwide, waste generation will have increased by 70% by 2050 – that’s 3.4 billion metric tons! (Global waste generation - statistics & facts | Statista). 

The message of reduce, reuse, repair, repurpose and then recycle is slow to take real effect in counteracting this waste problem.  In the Hospitality industry we need to rethink: not what we offer but how we offer it –and the consequential waste from our decisions.  

The Hotel Yard 

One missed opportunity is when renovations are taking place at a Hospitality property.  Furniture, which is still perfectly useable is being thrown in the skip in large quantities. There is an alternative. Fifty Shades Greener has collaborated with Otolo, a global online hospitality forum, for an initiative named “The Hotel Yard”. Hospital...

Odran Lucey, executive chef at the Rose Hotel in Tralee, Ireland, has become the first person in the world to successfully complete a brand-new qualification for Environmental Sustainability Management in Hospitality.

Fifty Shades Greener (FSG) and the Confederation of Tourism & Hospitality (CTH) joined forces in late 2021 to create the first Level 4 (Level 6 in Ireland) certificate in environmental sustainability management in hospitality. This is the first qualification of its kind to be regulated as an official qualification on the Ofqual framework of education.

“Reducing carbon emissions should be something that becomes paramount in our daily routines if we really want to provoke a mind-set change. Environmental education is key to driving this transformation and the general education system has a responsibility to not only prepare learners for the world of work, but provide them with the skills to influence employers, politicians and the wider society. This can be achieved throu...

When we think of luxury within hospitality, we think 5 star hotels and spas, Michelin star restaurants and extravagant comfort. Often, we don’t associate sustainability with this opulent experience.

However, incorporating practices into your operation that reduce the impact you are having environmentally and socially, does not mean an automatic compromise of the service that you provide your customers.

Sustainable Tourism

What does sustainable tourism look like to you? When defining this term, the UN World Tourism Organisation explains that it is:

“Tourism that takes full account of its current and future economic, social and environmental impacts, addressing the needs of visitors, the industry, the environment and host communities.”

A recent study from the accommodation platform giant AIRBNB and ‘think tank’ Economist Impact, on nearly 5,000 travellers from over 9 different countries, highlighted some revealing trends in relation to how people want to travel from where the...

For the year of 2024, the team here at Fifty Shades Greener (FSG) has decided to focus its energy and efforts into spotlighting small, community driven sustainability projects from anywhere in the world that are operating on a grass roots level.

The world of sustainability itself can often be perceived as a minefield. From the enormity of the climate crisis, CSRD regulations and measuring carbon emissions, the efforts being made on the field by individuals or groups can often get overshadowed.

However, we always say at FSG, that small actions do count, especially when being carried out by many. This blog series will endeavour to highlight those people or communities who are driving REAL action.

We hope their stories inspire you, and more importantly that they spark hope.

Our eighth story features Pedro Fernández professor at the Universidad Politecnica de Madrid in the Department of Hydraulic, Energy and Environmental Studies.

How The Project Started

Pedro is the founder of Blue ...

For the year of 2024, the team here at Fifty Shades Greener have decided to focus our energy and efforts into spotlighting small, community driven sustainability projects from anywhere in the world that are operating on a grass roots level.

Our fifth story features The Studio, an organisation which produces ethical crafts created by Syrian and Palestinian refugee women in the Shatila camp. 

What is The Studio

Their mission is clear: to ignite hope, foster resilience, and amplify the voices of women artisans, catalysing positive change in their lives and the communities they touch. They are driven to make a meaningful difference by not only empowering these women but also by generating sustainable income. They sell the beautiful products created by these artisans to the world, creating economic opportunities that enrich lives, fund their programs, and ensure long-term sustainability.

💡People Behind Shatila Studio

At The Studio, we are Opportunity Makers, driven by our unwavering ...

Food is necessary for human survival, yet, over the last few decades, the fast-paced society and world capitalist economies have slowly but surely made us lose our connection with the food we eat.

Producing food requires a huge environmental effort: land that has been deforested, species that have been driven to extinction, indigenous populations that have been made homeless, uprooted soil that has been degraded and a huge amount of water used.

The reality of the modern global food systems is that we produce way more food than we need to, 30% of it ends up in the bin before it even reaches our supermarkets, while millions of people in the world die of starvation.

It is clear that our food systems are broken and a total re-think of those systems needs to happen on a global scale, to create a system that is sustainable at all points of our food journey. From its production, processing, transportation and even disposal at the end of its food cycle.

Environmentally, one of the most d...

For the year of 2024, the team here at Fifty Shades Greener have decided to focus our energy and efforts into spotlighting small, community driven sustainability projects from anywhere in the world that are operating on a grass roots level.

We hope their stories inspire you, and more importantly that they spark hope.

Our seventh story features Emma Tuite, Director of Sea Shepherd Ireland, the Irish group of this international marine protection organisation.

The Beginning of Sea Shepherd Ireland

Established in 1977, Sea Shepherd Conservation Society (SSCS) is an international non-profit, marine wildlife conservation organization, with a very clear mission: to end the destruction of habitat and slaughter of wildlife in the world's oceans in order to conserve and protect ecosystems and species.

Sea Shepherd uses innovative direct-action tactics to investigate, document, and take action when necessary to expose and confront illegal activities on the high seas. By safeguarding the biod...

For the year of 2024, the team here at Fifty Shades Greener have decided to focus our energy and efforts into spotlighting small, community driven sustainability projects from anywhere in the world that are operating on a grass roots level.

The world of sustainability itself can often be perceived as a minefield. However, we always say at FSG that small actions do count, especially when being carried out by many. This blog series will endeavour to highlight those people or communities who are driving REAL action. 

Our third story of hope focuses on Vedda organic herbal teas and natural medicines.

This company started by Revatha Shah brings you small batch, organic and ethically sourced time-tested ancient indigenous natural remedies from the mystical isle of Sri Lanka, whilst honouring the land and the people who steward them.

Alice, our communications manager, met Revatha in Sri Lanka this year, and found herself so inspired by his story and mission that she knew Vedda needed to ...

Creating any new culture in an organisation can feel daunting, particularly for industries recovering from the impact of the pandemic.

The Four Leadership Types

Professor Christina Edger from Birmingham City Business School highlighted 4 types of leadership from the Covid crisis:

• Deniers: angry, denied how the crisis affected their business
• Opportunists: used Covid-19 as an excuse for poor performance with other factors at play i.e. poor leadership
• Pragmatists: accepted different stages of the crisis, addressing issues speedily
• Inspirers: able to see the bigger picture, care for their people as the crisis affected society as a whole

The questions remain: how do we inspire our team, how do we encourage trust? How do we share our green values?

Essential Leadership Skills 

There are several leadership models and theories, but Brené Brown has highlighted 4 key skill sets every leader should possess and develop:

1. The ability to be vulnerable, to have the hard conversations...