Green Hotel Award ‘considers’ food waste amid concerns over excess waste by large firms

Established in 2007, the “Macao Green Hotel Award” has been awarding more “green” awards each year to the local hotel industry using an assessment criteria.

Since it was created, the number of hotel units receiving awards has quickly moved from eight (in the first year) to 54 hotels in 2023.

The Environmental Protection Bureau (DSPA) has said that the current number of awardees are nearly half the total number of hotels, which, in DSPA’s opinion, proves “the Award is highly recognized by the local hotel industry and has successfully driven the development of green hotels in Macau.”

The DSPA also said that “in addition to reducing operating costs and enhancing their green image of hotels, participating hotels can also be better prepared for the government’s future implementation of environmental laws and regulations, to respond to the demand on environmental protection from the community.” It expected that the award “can also drive the community, including other corporations, schools and organizations, to work together towards environmental excellence, with a mission to turn Macau into a green city for citizens and tourists.

For the past few years, the local government, particularly the DSPA, has been expressing concern over the quantity of food waste produced in Macau namely by the restaurant and hotel businesses. Strangely, this does not seem to be an assessment criterion for the “Green Hotel Award.”

In a response to an inquiry from the Times on the matter, the DSPA said that the awards take into account this issue by “encouraging the sector to develop food waste management plans to reduce food waste.”

Food waste management is not a specific criterion

Despite the response from DSPA, a comprehensive analysis of the assessment criteria reveals that these assessment criteria are based on three areas: “Green Leadership and Innovation,” “Green Programme and Performance” and “Partner Synergy.”

In the detailed information about each area, the DSPA noted that “Green Leadership and Innovation” refers to the level of commitment made by the hotel management in the pursuit of environmental objectives within the hotel, the commitment of management and staff to implement environmental initiatives, and how the hotel creates an environment that encourages staff participation in environmental programs.

“Green Programme and Performance” assesses the hotels’ achievements in carrying out their environmental programs, adding to the effectiveness of environmental measures undertaken during daily operations, the evaluation of whether the hotel complied with environmental regulations; conservation of energy and water; reduction of carbon emissions and waste materials; noise control; air pollution control; light pollution control; transportation; and other measures of environmental quality improvement.

The last of the areas under scrutiny is “Partner Synergy,” which according to the rules and laws that regulate the awards, focuses on how a hotel explores opportunities to inform suppliers and contractors of the importance of environmental management and encourages them to adopt environmental strategies in their operations. It is also said that these actions extend to how the hotel educates its customers and the general public about the importance of environmental protection and if it organizes environmental activities or participates in local environmental activities organized by other entities.

Although none of the abovementioned areas specifically refer to the reduction or recycling of food waste, hotels can refer to their food waste reduction programs as their selection for their “environmental program” of the year, rather than that category being assessed generally.

Food waste continues to grow exponentially

According to DSPA’s report on the State of the Environment in Macau 2023, food waste produced last year continued an increasing trend with a total of 694.7 tons collected in the different programs of both the DSPA and the Municipal Affairs Bureau (IAM).

Year-on-year, the quantity of food waste amounted to an increase of 37.4% (505.5 tons in 2022).

The same report also noted that food waste alone has been accountable for about one-third (or more) of all urban solid waste with the share of this waste to reach 38% in 2021 and 2022 and 32.9% in 2023.

As the Times previously reported, according to official data from DSPA, in the first five months of this year (January to May), the IAM and DSPA have already collected some 324.78 tons of food waste.

The topic has been also raised on a couple of occasions over the past few years at the Legislative Assembly with the Secretary for Transport and Public Works, Raimundo do Rosário, who is also responsible for environmental protection.

In previous debates, Rosário also noted the high quantities of food waste as well as the lack of capacity to treat such waste.
Ultimately the matter gave way to the launching of the project that aims to build an Organic Waste Recovery Center that soon will start construction in the land plot beside the current construction landfill in Cotai.

The construction will cost MOP1.15 billion and must completed in 38 months.

When it commences operation, the Recovery Center facility will be able to produce electricity from biogas coming from the fermentation of food waste.

Currently, the food waste has only been processed to produce soil fertilizers.

Authorities estimate that, when the Center is in full operation, it will be able to process approximately 150 tons of food waste per day.

Researchers: buffets cause most waste

According to several academic studies, including a recent one from the University of Berkeley, California (USA), nearly half of the food at buffets is wasted, a fact that the study noted contributes to a yearly 108 billion pounds (49 million tons) of food wasted in the United States.

In the same study, researchers established a mechanism to quantify the number of meals that could be provided by the food waste from buffets, noting that the quantity previously mentioned would be equivalent to 130 billion meals, and it is worth over USD408 billion (MOP3.28 trillion) in food thrown away each year.

A different study done by two researchers in Taiwan (Emily Wu and Teng Chih-Ching) titled “Reducing Food Waste in Buffet Restaurants: A Corporate Management Approach” has reached similar conclusions. The study also quotes data from the United Nations (2019) reporting that one-third of the world’s food is discarded every year before it has been eaten, amounting to 1.3 billion tons and occupying 1.4 billion hectares of land (an area equivalent to 28% of the world’s agricultural land).
This food waste was estimated to cost some USD750 billion per year in economic loss and environmental costs.

In a report from the European Commission on the “Estimates of European Food Waste Levels” it is said that in Europe, the hospitality industry generated 12% of total food waste, the third largest proportion after household and manufacturing food waste.

Another study done by Beretta C., Stoessel F., Baier U., and Hellweg S. on “Quantifying food losses and the potential for reduction in Switzerland” also stated that the hospitality sector is one of the main sources of food waste, accounting for 17% of total food waste, adding that more than two-thirds of this food waste is avoidable.

About the awards

The “Macao Green Hotel Award” is organized by the DSPA in collaboration with the Macao Government Tourism Office (MGTO) and supported by several organizations including the Macao Hoteliers and Innkeepers Association, the Macao Hotel Association, the Macao Productivity and Technology Transfer Center, and the Macao Hotel Employees Association. The Hong Kong Productivity Council is listed as the technical consultant of the awards.

The awards are divided into two groups, one for the general hotels and another dedicated to budget accommodation.

There are five award categories for the “Hotel” group, attributing Platinum, Gold, Silver, Bronze, and Merit awards to recognize hotels with different levels of environmental achievement. For the “Budget Accommodation” group, there will be a “Green Guesthouse Award” and “Basic Certificate” that is said to aim to encourage hotels and guesthouses to adopt green measures.

After being awarded, the awards have a validity of three years, with DSPA noting that there is a follow-up mechanism for the environmental performance of the award-winning hotels during the validity period of the award. Awarded hotels are required to complete the follow-up assessment questionnaire every year and adhere to the DSPA’s relevant follow-up measures.