Berlaymont Brussels - Green

Our approach is based on the participation of all our employees and on the education of the people around us.

First, the staff at the hotel, were made aware of the general situation of the Environment and together we found many actions to launch in order to be more “Eco-Responsible” Afterwards we gave them a responsibility to apply our “green project” in the hotel, at home as well and vice versa.

 

The next stage of the project for us was to make the guest more aware of the environment and help them make some simple actions to help in our campaign.

We decided to focus on issues, such as: energy, recycling, sustainable development, transport and green spaces, always keeping in mind that the quality and comfort should never be altered.

These are some – from many others – gestures to the environment.

All employees are involved in a better sorting-system; “better sorting and more recycling” is our motto.

 

All the hotels suppliers were contacted to find out how packaging waste could be avoided, reduced or perfected. Less waste, helps not only the hotel in reducing their “waste dump”, but also its suppliers.

We are also buying locally as much as possible in order to save fuel for transporting the goods.  We sensitized all suppliers to our concept.

Without affecting the comfort of the customer, our efforts have enabled us to save 25% CO² over the past year. A lot of the measures have being taken into effect in a great energy saving for the hotel just by using the proper tools, adjusting the machines the way it should be and monitoring our consumption on a daily or weekly basis.

Most office materials such as pens, pencils, paper, etc… are made out of recycled materials. Most of the plastic one-way items have been removed and replaced by glass (i.e. plastic bottles of water in our meeting rooms are now glass bottles, plastic cups for staff have been removed and a water fountain has been installed…).

A recupel container has been installed for the hotel, personnel and a few companies locally in order to have their broken electronic devices recycled.

Sorting waste throughout the hotel has become a habit (cardboard, metal, paper, plastic, oils, glass, porcelain, ink cartridges…) in order to recycle them.

Most regular light bulbs have been replaced by incanted scent light bulbs using 80% less energy.

We also installed low flow showerheads and filters in order to reduce the water consumption.

This is not only saving water but also salt from the softener and gas as we have less water to heat. Very shortly after the installation, we could already experience the difference. To give you an idea, by the end of this year, we shall save a total amount of water that equals to 55 .000.000 liters of water or … 4 Olympic swimming pools!

For this first award, we gained directly 2 star out of a maximum of 3. Needless to say that we are already working on achieving 3 star in the nearest possible future!

 

• How was our green Project Created?

 

We thought that the planet of our children was ours now, and that we had to do some actions to change the situation.

 

It were created more than two years ago, by the initiative of our Chief Engineer, very involved in the green concept, and by our management team seeing the evolution of the energy cost.

 

• Staff explanation

 

The Green concept is really a company project.

All the staff and management were involved.

 

The hotel also encourages its employees to use public transport frequently. Referring to this idea, the hotel has created a “Green package” for its visitors. Leave your car at the hotel or – better– at home and discover Brussels by bike, by metro and by foot (see below).

 

Housekeeping:

 

The red card “do not disturb” is not in paper anymore but in plastic.

We put pump dispensers in the bathroom, and we use Bio cleaning products.

A campaign is also placed in the rooms to encourage our guest to do the same…

 

In the kitchen

 

We have installed a Recupel centre to recycle our used household appliance.

Different kind of dustbins is use to sort our wastes.

Glass bottles are replacing plastic ones.

… 

Front office

 

Paper recycling.

We also made a letter for our suppliers to keep the same habits as us.

 

• Green Committees

 

The concept:

 

One hotel, 214 rooms, 79 employees,

One earth, 6 billion people.

One comitee, 8 people, to help us to save the planet.

 

The motto is:

  

Groen – Doen

Vert – Terre

Green – Clean

 

We created a Green comity in order to plan our several actions.

They meet once a month and give new ideas and projects.

In order to keep our energy and motivation, the committee changes every 6 month.