BANGKOK, 1 May 2024: 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. Many of Thailand’s hotels still use detergents that are not biodegradable or non-environmentally friendly, such as alkylphenol ethoxylates (APEOs). APEOs (CAS 9016-45-9) are endocrine disruptors that interfere with estrogen levels in aquatic settings receiving wastewater. They have been banned in the European Union and several other countries around the globe.
“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 addressed media, housekeepers and students at a sustainable housekeeper industry briefing on 27 April 2024 in Bangkok.
Diversey (a Solenis company) and the Executive Housekeeper Association of Thailand argued for better sustainable practices in Thailand and beyond.
The objective, said Diversey speakers, was not just to comply with regulations in mature markets such as the EU, USA, Australia, and Japan but to go further to help the environment and gain a 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 include community support and environmental elements. For example, Diversey is encouraging the recycling of hotel soaps with its Soap For Hope initiative. It also converts 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 the 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 achieve international sustainability certifications such as those issued by Green Globe, Green Key, EarthCheck, and the Hospitality Sustainability Basics global standards. Tour operators in the EU and other affluent source markets are more likely to demand these certifications when sending tourists to Thailand’s hotels.
Ampika Methip, President of the Executive Housekeeper Association of Thailand, told the meeting: “We need hotels to use greener products and manage their waste better by reducing, reusing, and recycling and banning single-use plastic.”
“We only have one world, and we have to do our share,” said Karel Van Gorp, Solenis’ Vice President of Marketing for Emerging Markets.
(SOURCE: Diversey, a Solenis company, and the Executive Housekeeper Association of Thailand.)
