Our progress towards a circular economy in 2022

 

 

These are just a couple of highlights of our comprehensive work towards a circular economy, view the rest in our 2022 Year in Review.

 

Decarbonization roadmap

 

In 2020, we at Iberostar publicly committed to reaching carbon neutrality across our Scopes 1, 2 and 3 by 2030. This ambition was validated by SBTi in October 2022 and is below the emissions reductions necessary to be in line with 1.5˚C of warming by 2050.

 

We commit to reducing absolute Scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emissions 85% by 2030 relative to our 2019 base year. We also commit to reducing absolute Scope 3 greenhouse gas emissions relative to our 2019 base year.

 

Our carbon footprint in 2019 is estimated to be 1.02 million tonnes of CO2e: 8% from Scope 1, 14% from Scope 2 and 77% from Scope 3. With this ambition, by 2030, we will have an expected 2030 footprint annually of 594,000 tonnes of CO2e: 3% from Scope 1, 4% from Scope 2 and 93% from Scope 3.

3Rs teams, scales and system

 

In 2022, we experienced remarkable results in the evolution and implementation of our waste management system to achieve our goal of sending zero waste to landfill by 2025. For example, we now have scales to weigh our waste in nearly 70% of our hotels. We have a waste management focus on minimizing the waste we create and providing a proper destination for this waste.

 

Scaling our 3Rs team was a critical part of our 2022 strategy. As a result, nearly 80% of our hotels now have fully operational 3Rs teams, with 238 team members across these hotels. We will seek to implement 3Rs teams in the remaining hotels in Montenegro, Greece, Tunisia and the USA.

 

Compost Iberostar Paraíso

 

The composting center of the Iberostar Playa Paraíso hotel complex in the Riviera Maya in Mexico began at the end of August 2022 and processes the following raw materials: garden pruning waste, fruit and vegetable peels, eggshells, coffee grounds and sargassum. (We tested sargassum to see if it was suitable for the composting process).

 

The system is carried out in oval piles, incorporating the aforementioned raw material. The piles are no more than two meters in height, four m in diameter and ten to twelve m long.

 

We currently have the following piles: one of approximately 30 cubic m in the thermophilic stage, one of 25 cubic m in the mesophilic stage, one of approximately 35 cubic m in the maturing and cooling stage, and one of similar dimensions (approximately 40 tons) in its final mesophilic stage.

Food waste

 

In 2022, we expanded our effort to reduce food waste at the global level by performing specific actions:

 

• • Creating internal guidelines for our kitchens to maximize the food in our operations and minimize food waste
  • Continuous monitoring and audits in situ to identify key challenges, opportunities, best practices and changes required
  • Investing in AI technology in our kitchens to better measure, track and adjust production through digitized scales; installing Winnow Systems in our hotels with the goal of halving food waste in one year
  • Training chefs and internal teams to reduce food waste
  • Building partnerships to donate food to local communities

 

Eliminating food waste is a crucial part of our strategy and is integrated into the customer experience. In some cases, we’re making a better food experience and tackling food waste simultaneously. Whether through reducing our plate sizes or increasing the amount of show cooking we perform, leaders in our food and beverage service are fully committed to our cause. Now we are working to measure the amount of food waste we have through our partnership with Winnow.

 

Next year, we will launch a Global Food Waste Program to boost results and engage key external and internal stakeholders.

 

Winnow

 

Winnow allows us to know how much food we throw away from a specific location. The system uses AI in the kitchen to determine these specific data points, which make it possible to analyze the reason for leftovers and adjust the production we need to feed our clients. In 2019, we ran a pilot with Winnow in Spain, and last year, we expanded the program to the Dominican Republic and achieved positive results. In 2022, we rolled out Winnow systems to 18 new hotels.

 

We invite you to learn more about our accomplishments on moving towards a circular economy in 2022 by accessing our Year in Review.