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Vermont Hotel Project Awarded Grant to Reduce Waste

Release Date: 11/19/2008
Contact Information: David Deegan, (617) 918-1017

(Boston, Mass. – Nov. 19, 2008) - A project to reduce waste at hotels in Vermont has received $25,000. The funding comes from the “Resource Conservation Challenge,” an EPA program to conserve natural resources and energy by managing materials more efficiently.

The Northeast Recycling Council, working with the Vermont Green Hotels program, was given the money for a three-year project aimed at reducing the amount of sold waste generated, increasing recycling, increasing the rescue and composting of food and reducing the use of toxic chemicals in hotels.

The project will partner with the Vermont Foodbank to increase food rescue and will provide education and technical assistance to reduce the generation and disposal of waste. EPA’s Resource Conservation Challenge program is a six-year national effort aimed at conserving natural resources and energy by managing materials more efficiently.

“This project by the Northeast Recycling Council working with Vermont hotels will help reduce the waste from one of the state’s most important industries,” said Robert Varney, regional administrator of EPA’s New England office. “EPA’s Resources Conservation Challenge was created in 2002 specifically to support this kind of innovative project.”

Currently, less than 10 percent of hotels in the state are involved in the Green Hotels program. This project is meant to enhance opportunities for sustaining and expanding green lodging programs in Vermont as well as other states. Studies have found hotel rooms generate up to 28 pounds a day of waste a day, according to the project proposal.

The Resource Conservation Challenge works to reduce waste, reuse and recycle more products, buy more recycled and recyclable produces and reduce toxic chemicals in waste. It works with states, industry and others to find ways to accomplish these goals.

The Vermont project was one of two in New England to be awarded a grant from the Resource Recovery Challenge. Resource Conservation Challenge grants have resulted in over 27,000 tons a year of waste recycled in New England. The bulk of this waste comes from more than 300 supermarkets in Massachusetts that have begun composting their food waste. EPA has invested $442,400 in programs aimed at reducing waste and increasing waste reuse and recycling in New England through the Resource Conservation Challenge.

More information:EPA’s Resources Conservation Challenge (https://www.epa.gov/osw/rcc/index.htm)