Hotels use a wide range of products every day, from linen and uniforms to mattresses, keycards, amenities, food, and cleaning products.
Circularity touches many areas of a hotel, including energy, water, buildings, materials, food and mobility. In this article, we focus mainly on materials and food: two areas where hotels can often start with practical changes.
Many products still follow a traditional pattern: buy, use and replace. Circularity encourages hotels to think differently: use fewer resources, keep products in use longer, repair or reuse them, and recycle only when there is no better option.
For hotel operators, this is becoming increasingly relevant. In a circular economy, waste is avoided as much as possible, and materials stay in use for longer. The transition to a circular economy is already underway: legislation is changing, raw materials are becoming scarcer, and expectations from guests, employees, and other stakeholders are rising. Hotels that anticipate these developments can become more future-ready and resilient. Smarter use of materials can also reduce unnecessary purchases, waste, and costs.
Understand what you already use
Start by looking at the products and materials that regularly move through your hotel.
Think about:
- Linen and towels
- Staff uniforms
- Mattresses and beds
- Furniture and fixtures
- Keycards
- Guest amenities
- Cleaning products
- Food and kitchen supplies
Before asking how a product can be recycled, first ask whether you can avoid using it, use less of it, keep it in use for longer, repair it, or reuse it. Then look at why products are replaced and what happens to them afterwards. This order helps identify opportunities to prevent waste and makes recycling the last step rather than the first solution.
Use products for longer
Circularity goes further than recycling. One of its most important principles is keeping products in use for as long as possible.
For example, Blycolin looks at the full journey of hotel linen, from sourcing and washing to quality control and reuse. By Rockland applies a similar approach to company clothing by considering durability and recyclability during the design process.
Sometimes circular options may cost more upfront. But if a product lasts 10 years instead of 5 and only costs slightly more, it can provide better value over time. Hotels can therefore look beyond the initial purchase price and also consider quality, lifespan, repairability and possibilities for reuse.
Think about the end before you buy
Before buying something new, consider what will happen when the product reaches the end of its useful life. Some procurement departments already make an end-of-life plan for products such as furniture. Auping, for example, develops circular mattresses that can be taken apart so materials can be reused for new mattresses.
The same principle can apply to many hotel products. Ask:
- Do we need to buy this product at all?
- Can it be repaired and reused?
- Can individual parts be replaced instead of replacing the whole product?
- Can it be repurposed or given a second use?
- Does the supplier offer a take-back system?
- Can you use the product as a service instead of buying it?
- If none of these options work, can the materials be recycled into new products?
Thinking about these questions before purchasing can prevent products from becoming waste later.
Turn waste into a resource
Some materials that hotels currently throw away may still have value. Eco Concept Group, for example, works with circular merchandise and can turn existing materials such as old textiles into new products.
Food deserves the same attention. Food waste can be reduced by planning purchases around actual demand, buying in bulk where this makes operational sense, using ingredients more efficiently and avoiding unnecessary overproduction. Combining orders and deliveries can also help reduce unnecessary transport movements. Even used frying oil can be collected and reused for biofuel.
This changes the question from:
“How do we get rid of this?”
to:
“How can we use this material or resource again?”
Start small
A hotel does not need to become fully circular overnight. Start with one area, such as linen, food, furniture, or amenities, and look at what happens from purchase to end-of-use.
Ask four simple questions:
- Can we avoid it or use less?
- Can we use it for longer?
- Can we repair, reuse, or repurpose it?
- What is the best next use before recycling becomes necessary?
Circular hospitality starts by making smarter use of the resources that already enter and move through the hotel.
