Solid waste management in small hotels: a comparison of green and non-green small hotels in Wales

Abstract

Solid waste generation and disposal is one of the most negative impacts of small hotels on the environment. Small hotels often pay little attention to their environmental responsibilities. This research builds upon an earlier work by the same authors considering solid waste management (SWM) issues in small Welsh hotels. It considers the Welsh Assembly Government's Green Dragon Environmental Standard (GDES) as an environmental management system developed specifically to target small and medium-sized enterprises and help them with aspects of environmental management, such as SWM. It explores SWM practices in green (i.e. GDES-accredited) and non-green small hotels and develops a best practice SWM model for them. Semi-structured interviews were used to investigate hoteliers’ attitudes and the barriers to implement sustainable SWM practices. The findings revealed that most non-GDES small hotels were highly reliant on landfill for the disposal of solid waste and felt negatively about the implementation of more sustainable SWM alternatives. In contrast, GDES small hotels used landfill as a last resort and targeted other waste hierarchy options in preference. The study develops a best practice model for policymakers (local authorities and UK central government) to influence and encourage better SWM practices in small hotels.