How do I recycle Hotel wastage to save environment and for cost cutting?

Jaypeerao: How do I recycle Hotel wastage to save environment and for cost cutting?
I am running a mess(small hotel with 16seater capacity) in a city. Daily we are getting around 30 – 40 kgs of wastage which can be recycled as far as my knowledge. How do I make use of this(either in saving the fuel or power or in any other way) in cutting down the costs of maintenance of the mess.

But I don’t have the technology and infrastructure to do that. This helps in saving the environment and cost cutting in this recession.

Answers and Views:

Answer by teju
its great tat u ve such an idea,, first of all dig up a pit of 20-25 mt n fix a lid(preferably plastic to avoid corrosion) ,, d lid shud ve an opening fa outlet of gas,, n d remains can b sold out as fertilizer too… but remem,, dis plant comes only afte 20 days of its initial operation..

Answer by Mariela B
You can compost your wast such as vegetables,eggs shell,fruits,paper,and even hair in a compost bin or you can use a big bucket and put scraps with paper and a little paper every now and then and mix it with some water and let it sit to become soil. You can also unplug all electronics or tell guests to do so and it will save about 5 watts of power and reduce your electricity bill. Recycle all cans,aluminum,and glass. Have some green tips along to save energy tips and remind and encourage guests to do these while they are there.

Answer by Abhilasha
You can segregate waste into dry wastes and wet wastes. Wet waste are domestic waste which can be used to convert manure, dig a compost pit in your backyard to convert them into manure. Dry waste can be given along with your newspaper waste once in a month and wastes like plastic bags, bottles, cans can be recycled.You can give manure to nursery or farmers in your locality or you can sell them.This will help you get income from your waste.

Hope following link help you for recycling
https://www.commonfloor.com/articles/waste-management-in-apartments-83.html

Answer by BeWaterWise Rep
To begin with, you can segregate your waste into bio and non bio degradable. Sell the non bio degradable waste to a recycling agent, the rest can be put in a compost pit and turned to mulch that is rich for gardens and plants. There is also a water shortage and it would be a great idea if you could conserve water at your hotel. This will also keep your bill down. To read how you can save water visit

Answer by Fern78
The first thing to do is to properly analyze your waste to work out what it is you are getting rid of, and how much. There is no point in investing time and effort in composting if you are actually getting rid of domestically non compostable waste (e.g. cooked meat and fish etc).

Then work out how much space you have to segregate waste, and what your current spend on waste management is, done well this should save you money but it is good to know existing budgets to work out savings over time if initial investment is required.

If you plan on composting on site then you also need to identify your end markets. Several well known coffee shops for e.g. bag up coffee grounds and give to their customers as a fertilizer this costs them virtually nothing and they save on disposal costs.

I won’t lie I have done waste audits many times and it is a manky job, steel toed boots and thick gloves (in case of broken glass or jagged tins) as well as a disposable paper overall and a strong stomach (seriously don’t eat first) are all highly recommended.

If you are in the UK then Groundwork or Envirowise (both government initiatives) can often help you do this or do this for you. Envirowise also do special events for the catering industry

In a canteen typically your waste will be a mix of paper (including dirty napkins and waxed paper – neither of which make good quality recycled paper); plastic cups (typically expanded polystyrene which can be recycled); glass and aluminium and steel tins (easy to recycle and depending on quantity you can get money for them); vegetable and fruit peelings, coffee grounds, tea bags (which can be easily composted but space may be a consideration in such a small site) and cooked food waste (which cannot be readily composted on site, though commercial composters will be able to deal with it they use different technology).

My advice having done it is first work out what waste you are getting rid of and how much of each waste each week. Quantities are important as they determine which recycling / recovery is most appropriate. You say ~40kg, if this was all compostable or e.g. then you would need a pretty large space for composting, also you would need some way of getting rid of that compost once you have made it. You can then give this information to waste contractors and ask them for their proposals to maximise your recycling and recovery.

I would also suggest the waste audit route as you may find that there is a lot of needless waste – by analysing what you are getting rid of you can cut the waste and stop the waste and also save money. For example you may find that on e.g. Fridays you get rid of a lot of items that are near expiry, you may wish to contact a local homeless shelter and give these to them every week, or may wish to do as our canteen does and offer them to staff for free after 12pm the day before they expire. You may also be surprised by some money saving ideas that arise by analysis of waste streams e.g. getting rid of 30 small tins of tomatoes every day, buy sizes more appropriate to your consumption and potentially realise a bulk buy saving.

Assuming that (since you are in a city) space is at a premium and the mess is not run in total isolation from the hotel it is worth looking at waste contractors and what they can offer you. Many now offer a range of solutions. On site segregation of material will get the best quality recycled at the end of the day, but requires commitment to segregation and the space to store separate waste streams.

You may decide that segregation for key materials offers best value for you – typically aluminium (because in sufficient quantities you can be paid for it), compostable materials (these are usually the heavy component of your waste – so to sell to bosses recycling these tends to deliver a quick increase in % total waste recycled) and plastic (because it is often a very emotive waste that people feel they should recycle – for plastic cups we have used www.saveacup.com)

Alternatively you may decide that you don’t have space to segregate your waste and so you may want a contractor who has a MRF (materials recovery facility) – essentially they segregate your waste as it arrives. Many of these are state of the art facility but they will usually ask you to segregate out paper before hand as dirty paper is next to useless for recycling.