The Hotel & Tourism Association Takes a Bite on Waste Management
ST. GEORGE’S, GRENADA - June 1, 2015 - The Grenada Hotel & Tourism Association (GHTA) organised a workshop on solid waste management for its members at True Blue Bay Resort on May 22, 2015. The volunteer driven workshop was hosted by Industrial and Environmental Engineer, Silke Rothenberger who has 15 years of experience working in water, waste and sanitation around the world. The well attended event welcomed 26 participants from 11 member companies (hotels, restaurants, tour operators), who wanted to know how GHTA members could become a part of the solution to Grenada’s waste management
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“Grenada’s is actively working on developing a new landfill, however at the current rate that Grenada generate garbage the new landfill will only last seven years” said Silke Rothenberger, Environmental Engineer, to emphasize the importance of reducing waste.
The GHTA Members are committed to doing their part: 50% of the waste volume generated by hotels can be reduced by practicing the simple Reduce-Reuse-Recycle principles. Participants learned about how to
reduce waste by making sound choices on what they chose to buy for their hotels – such as avoidance of Styrofoam containers, cloth napkins, and disposable shampoo bottles.
Recycling options were also explored in partnership with a local business, Spice Isle Recycling for cleaned and sorted materials such as Aluminum, PET (1) Plastic, Machine oil, vegetable oil, tetra packs and corrugated cardboard.
Participants also learned how composting can help reduce waste, while also providing fertilizer for maintaining gardens.
The outcome of this meeting was the formation of a Go Pure – Green Action Group consisting of one person per GHTA Member business that will meet again the first week of June. This group will work together to reduce waste in their businesses. Immediate action was also taken in the meeting to set up a collection schedule for cleaned and sorted recyclables from Tourism businesses.
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About Grenada Hotel & Tourism Association
The Grenada Hotel and Tourism Association (GHTA) is a non-profit, non-governmental organisation tasked with being the representative private sector voice of the island’s tourism sector. The Association is managed by a Board of Directors responsible for guiding the Association’s strategies and polices, while an Executive Director responsible for the day-to-day duties of the Association, which manages the secretariat.GHTA’s main purpose is to advocate and lobby on behalf of its members on matters affecting the tourism industry. In addition, the Association promotes educational opportunities for industry workers; assist in the development of cultural activities and aids in marketing the businesses of its members.
About Compete Caribbean
Compete Caribbean is a private sector development program that provides technical assistance grants and investment funding to support productive development policies, business climate reforms, clustering initiatives and Small and Medium Size Enterprise (SME) development activities in the Caribbean region. The program, jointly funded by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), the United Kingdom Department for International Development (DFID) and the Government of Canada, supports projects in 15 Caribbean countries. Projects in the OECS countries are implemented in partnership with the Caribbean Development Bank.