Hilton at Forefront of the Green Pack

Hilton Malta is ushering in the era of the “ecotel” to Malta by participating in GreenPak’s Hotel Waste Recovery scheme. Since commencing its collaboration with GreenPak in a few months, Hilton Malta has diverted an estimated 12 tonnes of glass, 2 tonnes of plastic, 800kg tonnes of metal and 8 tonnes of cardboard from landfill.

From the April 1, hotels in Malta are being charged €20 per tonne of rubbish that they send to the landfill. As a result, systems for minimising waste to landfill are either being introduced or further upgraded in hotels so that waste separation by hotel staff is maximised, thus recovering large amounts of rubbish that would otherwise end up in landfill.

The GreenPak Waste Compliance scheme, in operation since 2004, has made it easier for hotels to recycle. GreenPak collects hotels’ waste and sends it to a MEPA approved facility for recycling. Joining the green pack of hotels, Hilton Malta has invested in water conservation and reuse measures and encourages its guests to act responsibly by conserving resources during their stay. Accordingly, the hotel has been awarded the exemplary EU Eco-Label and the nationally recognised Eco-Certification awarded by the Green Committee of the Malta Tourism Authority.

Some 37 per cent of a hotel’s disposal consists of packaging waste that can be recycled. Separating of waste doesn’t take much time and is a matter of employees disposing waste in one of 4 colour-coded bins, instead of putting all into one. In order to simplify the recycling process, staff is trained in using the labelled bins displaying symbols denoting plastic, metal, paper, and glass.

GreenPak operates the only authorised packaging waste recovery scheme with a valid waste management permit in accordance with the Maltese law. The scheme is endorsed by the Malta Chamber of Commerce and Enterprise, works closely with MHRA and is approved by MEPA.

“The growing success of our tried and tested scheme has made GreenPak a pioneer of packaging waste recycling in Malta. GreenPak is committed to alleviating landfill charges for hotels and encouraging a greener and healthier environment,” said Ing. Mario Schembri, Green Dot Malta Ltd CEO.