Recycle - What For?

All this talk about recycling, how about we go back to the why's of recycling? Too often I find myself wondering again what really happens to that beer bottle or aluminum can I separate for recycling, or how to best explain to my 6 year-old niece what it means and why it matters.

Though I'm glad it's not up to me to do the explaining to my niece; below are some great facts and reminders about where it all goes and why it really does matter - to you , to me and to the sea.

• We dump MOST of the magazines printed in the US each year (about 8 million tons) into landfills. If we recycled just HALF of them, we could save over 12 MILLION CUBIC YARDS of landfill space.
• More than two-thirds of the material going into the landfills is degradable. However, very little change occurs because moisture is the most important environmental variable of degradation. Landfills are kept as DRY as possible to help prevent groundwater contamination from runoff. For example, newspapers are still readable MORE THAN 20 years after being thrown away. Food, such as T-bone steaks and hot dogs, remains relatively unchanged for more than a decade.
• Americans discard 4 million tons of office paper every ear. That‘s enough to build a 12 foot-high wall of paper from New York to California.
• Americans throw away about 10% of the food they buy at the supermarket. This results in dumping the equivalent of more than 21 million shopping bags full of food into landfills every year. But does it just biodegrade – Negative, not nearly as quick as compost. See landfills above.
• Americans discard enough aluminum to rebuild our entire commercial air fleet every 3 months.
• Most bottles and jars contain at least 25% recycled glass. Glass never wears out and it can be recycled forever.
• Plastics are made from petroleum - a limited nonrenewable resource. It is predicted that by the year 2040, the Earth‘s usable petroleum reserves will have been depleted.
• Americans make enough low density polyethylene (LDPE) plastic every year to shrink-wrap the state of Texas. Most if it ends up in landfills.

Hotels and a Greener Planet - How to Choose? Ask the Idiot's Guide

According to the "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Greening Your Business," there is a lot businesses can do, and in many cases at very little cost, to bring sustainabiilty to the workplace.

"Our planet is in trouble, and businesses have the collective power to turn the tide on the environmental disaster we've created. If businesses don't become sustainable, we don't stand a chance," says Trish Riley, co-author of the book.

So what are some things hotels can do that qualify as sustainable, and how can the avergage person find out which hotels are doing them and legitimately keeping their promise to be more earth friendly. There are of course sites like igobela.com dedicated to listing properties with established track records in sustainable operations and initiatives.

There is also the possibility of calling ahead and asking how certain resorts or hotels are cutting back on their carbon footprint, such as weatherizing facilities, recycling waste products, reducing water usage, investing in alternative fuel fleets and supporting local organic gardens and farms.

Don't travel hoping someone else makes a difference. We can all start today.

Paradise Lost?

From 2002 to 2004 I decided to take the plunge and live my dream of beach bumming some of the most talked about beach destinations in the U.S. This included living for a stint on the island of Maui.

Actually, my first time to Maui only lasted three months, but I knew I'd soon be back. And I was. On my second trip in late 2002 I stayed for almost two years and brought along my girlfriend, Natalie, who incidentally was later so blindly captivated by the island's charms that she said yes to becoming my wife.

During our time there, we worked, not surprisingly, in the hospitality industry. I was a front desk clerk at the Aston Ka'anapali Shores and Natalie a pool attendant for the much better known Hyatt Regency. Located along the world-famous Ka'anapali Coastline, the Hyatt promises and actually delivers on just about anythings its guests could desire.

From man-made waterfalls and small water park, to exotic animals, fine dining, golfing, a spa and more - you would think there is very little left the Hyatt can provide to satisfy its guests -but there is.

One might also assume that the millions of dollars spent in design and construction of first-class resorts on an isolated island chain in the Pacific might include recycling reusable waste, such as aluminum cans and plastics bottles. But it didn't. Daily we watched hundreds of water bottles and styrofoam containers fill-up trash cans.

Or what about harvesting the ever abundant energy of the sun for the seemingly unlimited needs that the Hyatt and other resorts like it promise to offer 24-7. Nothing happened on that front either. Plenty of the sun was used to tan bodies but little, from what we could tell, was used to power an assembly line of washing machines or heat jacuzzis.

So what does sustainability have to do with pampering clientèle anyway? I suppose just as much as maintaining a trash-free oceanfront or reasonable prices on rooms and amenities.

Is Ka'anapali Beach known for being an okay beach, or Waikki famous for its overpriced rooms? No. So why must resorts that dominate the coastline invest in practices that help maintain their natural landscape pollution-free and their energy costs to a minimum? The answers are simple but, unfortunately, from my experience no so easily contrived by the powers-that-be among the top and even smaller hotel chains.

With a global economy driving prices down and prompting competitors to find new ways to differentiate themselves from the pack, sustainable tourism is primed for a surge in growth. But it is still the job of the knowledgeable tourist and traveler to demand these changes from hotels, either by seeking out the ones that are making these improvements or by asking that sustainability be practiced by those that aren't.