Diversey and Thailand’s Hotel Housekeepers Push For More Sustainable Practices
Diversey and Thailand’s Hotel Housekeepers Push For More Sustainable Practices
More environmentally friendly chemicals, new technologies and a raft of upcycling innovations are being increasingly used behind the scenes in Thailand’s hotel sector
Bangkok – Diversey Hygiene (Thailand) and the Executive Housekeeper Association of Thailand (EHAT) have joined forces to advance better sustainable practices in Thailand’s hotel sector.
Many relatively harmful chemicals from hotel and resort wastewater pipes are still being deposited in the surrounding ecosystems. Detergents that are not biodegradable or non-environmentally friendly such as alkylphenol ethoxylates (APEOs) are still used in many of Thailand’s hotels. APEOs (CAS 9016-45-9) is an endocrine-disruptor, and it interferes with estrogen levels in aquatic settings receiving wastewater. It has been banned in the European Union and several other countries around the globe.
Dr. Stefan Phang
“If it’s not good for Amsterdam, why is it good for Bangkok? If it’s not good for Geneva, it shouldn’t be good for Krabi or anywhere,” said Dr Stefan Phang [pictured], Solenis’s Director of Sustainability and Creating Shared Value. He was addressing media, housekeepers and students at a sustainable housekeeper industry briefing 27 April 2024 in Bangkok.
Diversey (a Solenis company) and the Executive Housekeeper Association of Thailand were making the case for better sustainable practices in Thailand and beyond.
The objective, said Diversey speakers, was not to just be compliant with regulations in mature markets such as the EU, USA, Australia and Japan, but to go further to help the environment and gain competitive advantage.
The way ahead for Thailand’s hotel housekeeping sector is to embrace green products and international environmental certifications, use less plastic, and adopt automation and digitisation for more accurate measurements, speakers said.
EHAT and Diversey explained that the housekeeper support sector is full of innovation, such as cleaning without chemicals using diamond dust.
Supported by EHAT, Diversey has launched additional technical innovations that have a community-support element as well as an environmental one. For example, Diversey is encouraging the recycling of hotel soaps, with its Soap For Hope initiative. It is also converting end-of-life hotel linens into cloth bags, dolls and face masks in its Linens For Life programme.
Other innovations include CoffeeBriques, which recycles spent coffee grounds into coffee charcoal briquettes for cooking fuel. In addition, the company has technology to transform plastic waste into construction materials as a substitute for stone, sand, or gravel, such as for badminton courts and roads, under its PlasticShreds initiative.
“These initiatives not only help hotels reduce landfill waste but also enable vulnerable communities to earn a modest but sustainable income,” Phang explained. He demonstrated these projects to EHAT members at the 27 April 2024 event.
Diversey said its objective was to innovate new environmentally friendly cleaning solutions to deliver effective, high-quality, and sustainable industry outcomes in Thailand.
Once that is done, hotels can then achieve international sustainability certifications such those issued by Green Globe, Green Key, EarthCheck, and the Hospitality Sustainability Basics global standards. These are increasingly demanded by tour operators in EU and other affluent source markets that send tourists to Thailand’s hotels.
Ms Ampika Methip, President of the Executive Housekeeper Association of Thailand told the meeting: “We need hotels to use greener products and have better waste management by reducing, reusing and recycling and doing things like banning single use plastic.”
Mr. Karel Van Corp
“We only have one world and we have to do our share,” said Karel Van Gorp, Solenis’s Vice President of Marketing for Emerging Markets.
Dr. Stefan Phang demonstrates how to make cooking charcoal from used coffee grounds.
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About Diversey – A Solenis Company.
At Diversey – A Solenis Company, we provide cleaning, hygiene products, and technologies serving the hospitality, healthcare, food and beverage, food service, retail, and facility management
markets. Our services, specialty chemicals, and digital solutionsenable our customers to conserve natural resources, reduce waterand energy use, and minimize waste. Together we remain
committed to providing world-class expertise and innovative solutions that help build a cleaner, safer, and more sustainable world.
For more information: https://diversey.com/
About Executive Housekeeper Association
For more information: https://www.facebook.com/p/Executive-Housekeeper-Association-Thailand
