Five ideas to become waste free

Avoiding waste makes a big difference in the health of our oceans and our planet, as we prevent harmful materials like plastics from entering our oceans and reduce carbon emissions. Just in the US, over 292 million tons of waste are produced every year. That’s about 800 times the weight of the Empire State Building. Out of that waste, over 50% ended up in landfills.

More and more of us are becoming aware of the importance of reducing waste and taking steps in our daily lives to address this issue. At Iberostar, managing our waste is one of our main priorities and we commit to sending no waste to landfill by 2025, a goal that our global 3Rs department helps us realize across our hotels. There are many simple ways in which you can join us in our movement towards ‘waste free’ from home too. Check out a selection we have curated for you:

How you prevent packaging from becoming waste:

How you prevent packaging from becoming waste:

1. Try to go for no packaging or packaging you can use multiple times. Many of the things we buy come in packaging that can’t be reused. For instance, 40% (almost half!) of the plastic used in Europe is for packaging. That’s why it’s so important to try to go for multi-use instead of single-use packaging whenever possible. As we started working towards becoming free of single-use plastics at Iberostar, we quickly realized that switching to multi-use products (for example with yogurts or spreads in our buffets and amenities in the room) was one of the most impactful solutions that we could implement at our hotels. When reusable products or packaging are not an option, we rely on rigorously tested biodegradable options, which you can do at home too!

2. Reuse as much as possible. There are many creative ways to use packaging or containers we could easily throw away. As an experiment, look for ideas to repurpose an item you were thinking about discarding. We are confident you will find a way to give it a new life, for example through storage or decoration. In one of the restaurants in our Iberostar Selection Paraíso Lindo hotel you can find ocean-inspired decorations made out of recycled materials.

How you can avoid food waste:

3. Take a ‘shelfie’. When we go grocery shopping (or buying other items we need), we can often forget or misremember what we already have at home. By taking a photo of the items you already have in your fridge, your pantry or your freezer, you can make sure you are not buying things that you already have and may end up going bad. One third of the food produced globally today gets thrown away, which leads to higher emissions that contribute to climate change and also wasting a lot of resources like energy and water.⁠ In order to avoid this, our chefs are working on sophisticated systems to give feedback on our buffets to ensure that we are producing just the right amount of food relative to our occupancy.

4. Batch cooking and freezing. Many people already batch cook to save on time and not have to prepare meals every day from scratch. We are working on centralizing our kitchens so that multiple buffets can use a larger and more efficient cooking center. Not only is this very convenient, but also great for the environment. When we batch cook, we can use up fresh products and freeze some portions before they go bad and we have to throw them away. In case you need inspiration, here are 35+ ideas of meals that keep well in the freezer.

5. Using leftovers recipes. Both chefs and people at home are creating more and more recipes that you can make using common leftovers from other dishes. The idea of leftovers cooking is certainly not new and has been a part of many culinary traditions for centuries, but it has recently gained popularity again thanks to the growing awareness of the amount of food that gets thrown away. You can find a selection of leftovers recipes that you can filter by dietary preferences as well as cooking time and difficulty here.