A few months ago I read online that “carbon footprint” was one of the most overused and pretentious phrases of 2009. So instead of trying to impress you I’m simply going to share something we’re doing at the Doubletree that has made me proud to work here.

Growing up in the beautiful Santa Cruz Mountains has given me a great appreciation of nature and when I heard we were starting a Green Team at the hotel I was very excited. We discussed ways to make a significant impact locally, while still thinking globally. A meeting was set up with Allied Waste to find out how we could improve the efficiency of our recycling program, they had some great tips and off we went.

I am pleased to say that we are now recycling over 50% of the hotels entire waste including composting! Our next plan is to put recycling containers in all guest rooms as well as common areas. So if you’re looking around your office thinking about the changes your organization can make, I’d like to leave you with one simple fact courtesy of www.oberlin.edu:
Recycling 1 ton of paper saves 17 mature trees, 7,000 gallons of water, 3 cubic yards of landfill space, 2 barrels of oil, and 4,100 kilowatt-hours of electricity — enough energy to power the average American home for five months.

Think Green, my friends.

Anjel Stevens
Sales Assistant and Think Green committee member