Green is the new black

A core value

Environmental roof Aarhus
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September 14th, 2018

At Zleep Hotels, we care greatly about the environment. In fact, it is one of our core values that we try to implement in as many of our daily operations at the hotels, the service office and our building projects as possible. There are many things we do, but also many things that you yourself can do to help the environment.

Reducing food waste

For one, Zleep Hotels has received the bronze Organic Cuisine Label as a certificate that guarantees that our breakfast is between 30 – 60 % organic. But organic food is not much better for the environment if it’s wasted. So to reduce food waste from our breakfast buffet, we manage our inventory and plan ahead by purchasing no more than we estimate will be needed. We have also chosen to serve some products that are packaged in plastic, for example cheese. This is another way for us to reduce food waste as individual packaging improves shelf life. Samvirke, a Danish consumer magazine, says that only 1% of food’s environmental impact is attributed to packaging. However, 69% of the environmental impact is caused by the product and 30% comes from transportation, processing and cooling, rendering it much more immoral to create unnecessary waste. Also, individual packaging improves hygiene for our guests.

We offer a healthy and varied breakfast buffet and we love seeing our guests enjoy it. One thing you can do as a guest is instead of taking everything you think you want all at once, go twice or even three times – maybe you’re not as hungry as you think. To encourage this, we use only small plates at the hotels. It’s been proven you eat less and waste less when the plates are smaller as you do not fill it up in the same way you would with a big plate. We are constantly improving and looking for new solutions. Just a few years ago, we only had plastic single-use cutlery, now we have reusable steel cutlery.

The little things

In the hotel rooms, we encourage our guests to think about their environmental impact. For example, we have signs reminding them to switch off the lights when not in the room to save energy. All of our rooms are equipped with LED lights, also ensuring better energy consumption.

We have placed messages in our bathrooms to encourage guests to use their towel more than once to save water. When we do clean our towels and bed linen, it is in cooperation with Berendsen, who provide our hotels with CSR certified textile laundry. At home and when you visit a hotel, we also suggest that you consider turning off the water while brushing your teeth and when you are lathering up in the shower. We’ve made sure that the soap at our hotels is organic, making it more environmentally friendly to produce and use.

Another thing you can do as a guest is to return your room key when you leave the hotel. Many forget this or just don’t care – but the fact is that, as a consequence, we have to print more, resulting in unnecessary use of plastic. Speaking of the room key, we don’t use unnecessarily large key card holders but instead use small ones made from recycled paper that has the Nordic Swan Ecolabel.

Green transportation to the hotels

As a traveler it is a good thing to think twice about how you get to your hotel. Many of Zleep’s hotels are located close to public transportation, so it is easy to choose another option than taking a cab or driving. Here are some environmentally friendly ways you can get to the hotels:

  • Zleep Hotel Copenhagen City: Copenhagen must be one of the easiest cities to get to with public transport from the airport. It is just 15 minutes with train or subway from the airport to the central station and it is way cheaper than taking a cab. From the central station, it’s only a few minutes’ walk to the hotel.
  • Zleep Hotel Kolding: The hotel is located right next to the train station, so there really isn’t much more to say. Taking the train is one of the most environmentally friendly ways of traveling, and it is always relaxing to not have to think about anything – just enjoy the scenery or take the opportunity to get some work done.
  • Zleep Hotel Billund: If you are staying in Billund, chances are you probably arrived by flight. How convenient that our hotel is literally just a couple of hundred meters from the Airport, no need for a cab!
  • Zleep Hotel Ishøj: Just 20 minutes from Copenhagen central station by train and you arrive at Ishøj shopping center. The hotel is located on the 8th and 9th floor, so you couldn’t be closer to the train station.

  • Zleep Hotel Aarhus Viby: To get to Aarhus, you can easily take the train or bus from any part of Denmark. Arrive at the central station and smoothly change to a public bus and in 15 short minutes you arrive outside the hotel.
  • Zleep Hotel Roskilde: This hotel is located on the big pedestrian street in the middle of the city. The central train station is also located in the middle of the city, making it a short trip to the hotel.
  • Zleep Hotel Copenhagen Airport: When you land in Copenhagen Airport, you just want to get to the hotel as quick as possible – or smoothly return when departing. Our airport hotel has a partnership with the electric car company DriveNow, giving you access to one of their cars for a reduced price. Take an electric car straight from the airport, it’s just a 5-minute drive. If you happen to have your own electric car, the hotel is equipped with electric loading stations, encouraging the green choice.

Reduce, reuse and recycle

We are also proud of working on several initiatives to reduce our plastic consumption. One of our initiatives is to stop the use of plastic water bottles entirely at our hotels. Instead, the plan is to install cold water taps where you can fill your reusable water bottle yourself.

At the hotels, we aim to recycle as much as possible, which is why we sort cardboard paper, cans and bottles. It differs to which degree our hotels are able to recycle since it is often the municipality that offers recycling services. But all our hotels, including the service office, have started recycling printer toners.

As all industries are becoming more and more digitalized, of course Zleep Hotels is keeping up to reduce paper consumption. To do this, we have created digital sales contracts with our partners and companies who have a corporate agreement with us. Our accounting department is in the process of becoming fully digitalized, which is a big step in the right direction as they previously were very dependent on being able to print. For the occasions when the traditional pen and paper works best, our newest pens are made from corn and bioplastics.

Zleep has many hotel projects in the pipeline: 6 new hotels are opening within the next two years. Many of the buildings will be built in a sustainable way. For example, Zleep Hotel Aarhus Skejby is built following the DGNB standard for sustainable building processes. A second example of Zleep’s sustainable building is Zleep Hotel Copenhagen Arena. Here we will have solar panels that provide green energy as well as a green roof – literally. The roof will be covered with sedum plants, which absorbs large amounts of rain water and thus stops heat from escaping the building as well as reduces the CO2 emissions from the air.

We should point out that almost all of our current and upcoming hotels are developed and owned by other people than Zleep Hotels. Among the owners of the upcoming properties are both private investors and several pension funds, such as ATP, PFA and Pension Danmark. However, we have a close relationship with all our investors and we are happy to be working with companies that have the same values as us, ensuring environmentally friendly buildings and building processes.

At Zleep, we do many things to strengthen our environmental profile and live up to our core value. As mentioned, there are also many things you can do as a guest, small things that make a difference. It may just seem like a drop in the ocean – but every drop counts.

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