Environmental Management of Hotels and Resorts - Coursework Example

Environmental Operations on Water, Energy and Waste and their Impact on Environmental Management of Hotels/Resorts Name: Course: Tutor’s Name: 11th, April, 2010 Introduction The environment is very important to human life and even to animal life. For humans to continue living, they need oxygen, water, food, favourable temperature and so many other needs that sustain humans in the world. In order to get all these requirements, the environment has to be well taken care of. It is the environment that gives animals the oxygen they need, the CO2 to plants that the animals eat, the water needed for survival and so many other products and chemicals that are necessary for human life. Drugs for example are obtained from chemicals which are obtained from the environment. Pollution of the environment causes ill health to animals that live in it. Water pollution for example causes ill health to humans and death to marine animals some of which are eaten by humans. Additionally, it is not only food that animals need from other animals or plants. Plants and animals depend on each other in one way or the other. Plants have the capability of producing their own energy, while animals do not have that ability. The animals therefore obtain energy from the plants. Plants in turn get carbon dioxide from animals during respiration, a product that plants require for energy production. There are several ways in which the organisms of the world depend on each other. The effect of pollution on humans and the environment prompts the identification of sources of pollution and various ways of preventing or dealing with them. The environment should therefore be well managed to prevent pollution in order to ensure safety. This report considers environmental operations on water, energy and waste. Waste is a source of environmental pollution which causes air, water and land/soil pollution. Water is part of the environment that is polluted and energy can be a source of pollution, or the processes used for its production may be the source of pollution. In this report, several issues about environmental operations on water, energy and waste have been identified. These will be illustrated and their impact on environmental management of hotels discussed. Current Issues on Environmental Operations However much environmental protection agencies try to protect the environment, environmental problems keep on recurring. The problems are not similar, some of them occur due to negligence by the responsible parties although they have the knowledge of the impacts of environmental pollution, while some of them are new cases of environmental pollution. This does not mean that the environmental protection agencies should stop advocating for a safer environment and fighting to eliminate actions and operations that cause harm to the environment. The fight against environmental pollution still goes on. There are so many forms of environmental pollution. As indicated above, the actions of the people, companies and industries cause environmental pollution. There is water pollution, soil pollution, ocean pollution, noise pollution and air pollution. All these are caused by different factors. In the issues identified to affect the environment, all of them lead to either air, soil or water pollution. The first issue identified in this research is dumping of wastes. According to Inter press Service, methods of handling wastes and availability of dumping space are still a problem. The article indicated that, in the City of Tangerang, there was little space available for dumping of wastes. One man decided to exploit the opportunity and turned his land into a dumping site. The land is in a residential area and the business man maintained his business by burning the wastes twice a day. This was found to cause health problems to the people who inhaled the smoke and was advised to take on recycling the wastes (Indah, 2010). Families in the area fought against dumping wastes in that region to avoid the health problems. The case was reported to the Indonesian government to provide a solution but the solution provided is not sustainable. Nasrulloh, the business man, is unable to buy the machines and fuel required to recycle the wastes as was suggested to him by the environment officers. He said that the machines and the fuel are very expensive. The problem of dumping of wastes is still unsolved and the wastes are a source of pollution which is harmful to the health of the people that live around Nasrulloh’s land (Indah, 2010). In another case, the products obtained from wastes after recycling was an issue. Some waste products are harmful to the environment and can cause ill health to people if not controlled. The environmental organizations have been trying to control the effect of wastes on human health and also the environment by monitoring waste dumping sites, waste recycling and other important operations on waste management to ensure the environment and the people in it are safe. Safety is however jeopardized by some moves from operations management officials. In the current environmental management controls, wastes are recycled to produce fertilisers and other products. Some wastes however, still pose some risks on humans and the environment if used in fertilizer production. In an article dated 9th April 2010, it is indicated that the New South Wales department of Environment defended regulations that allowed contaminated organic fertilizers to be used on food production lands (Walsh, 2010). This fertilizer was previously banned from being used in homes and gardens and could not be used on root crops. The fertilizer known as organic output is said to be contaminated by lead, glass, plastic and chemicals which according to the New South Wales Environment Department’s deputy, is allowed in the market but with low levels of lead, plastic, chemicals and glass. The regulations accept such fertilizers with specific amount of contaminating chemicals, plastic and other materials (Walsh, 2010). It is clear that there is still lack of adequate dumping sites for wastes, there are no policies guiding dumping of wastes in some regions of the world and if there are, then they are not used appropriately, and there is still a problem with waste disposal. One of the methods of ensuring there is available space for dumping of wastes is recycling the wastes to create space for fresh wastes. This seems to be a problem in New South Wales Australia. The wastes are used to produce fertilizers in some cases and the fertilizers turn out to be harmful when used on crops. There is contamination of soil by contaminated fertilizers. Another issue is water pollution. Ground water, rivers oceans and many other water catchments are still being contaminated by chemicals from industries irrespective of regulations provided by the environmental protection agencies. In some cases as previously noted, the pollutant is new. In New York Times dated 29th March 2010, it is noted that the environmental protection agency plans to include Bisphenol-A as a harmful chemical to human consumption (Broder, 2010). The chemical is suspected to contaminate water and so more research will be conducted on drinking water, surface water and ground water to detect the levels of plastic in them. The agency had identified that more than one million pounds of Bisphenol-A, a chemical used to harden plastic, is released into the environment each year (Broder, 2010). This is not the only case of water pollution. In any case, it is still yet to be proved if harmful though have high chances of being one. There are companies that still pollute water irrespective of regulations on what to release into the environment. The Indian Point nuclear power is an example. Currently as according to New York Times, the company’s cooling system is out of date and releases heated water into the river killing the fish inside (New York Times, 2010 b). Dupoint is also another source of pollution. The company is a munition plant that releases mercury and lead into the environment. These pollute the soil and water. It also releases plume which pollutes the air around it. The issue of Dupoint environmental pollution actions has been there since 1970s with very little changes. Applebome indicates that, “Still, the toxic legacy is as real now as it was decades ago” (2010). This means that this company has been polluting the environment with the chemicals mentioned above since and is still doing so. Another article mentioned the death of sea lions in the water. The death of the lions was found to be as a result of a virus but factors such as water pollution were also suspected to be providing the viruses with favourable conditions to infect the sea lions. According to the New York Times dated March 4th, in every year, 15-20 sea lions are seen with cancer. This may not be a major issue in environmental pollution, but marine mammals die because of chemicals released into the waters from industries (Chen, 2010). One factor leads to another which in turn causes harm to the environment. The third issue in this report is the use of energy. In the world of today, there is an increasing demand because of the new technology equipments developed, changing society with changing needs and the increasing world population. In Australia for example, the energy consumption rose in 2008 compared to 2007. The country relies heavily on fossil fuel for power generation which has also led to the increase in green house emission by half since 1990 (ABS, 2010). Energy has to be conserved and its production has also to be safe, which means production of energy should focus on less green gas emissions. According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, Australians live in large homes with very few people increasing the green house emissions produced from electricity and gas used to build and run the homes (ABS, 2010). The use of this energy releases green house gases that are harmful to the environment and some of its generation methods may also be harmful to the environment. An example is the hydraulic fracturing method. This system blasts chemicals, water or sand into the underground to release the gas. The EPA of New York however suspect that this system of finding gas is not safe at all. The agency officials suspect that toxic chemicals released during the blast can poison the water for example the New York watershed (New York Times (a), 2010). The major issue portrayed in the issues above is environmental pollution and energy conservation. There are so many forms of environmental pollution and release of chemicals but the industries alone cannot be the only cause of environmental pollution. The above issues have shown there is soil pollution due to wastes, air pollution also due to wastes, ocean pollution from chemicals released in the waters, soil pollution from fertilizers and air pollution from gas emissions. In this paper, the impact of issues identified about environmental operations on hotel environmental management is to be discussed. Hotels may also be a source of environmental pollution by release of other pollutants such as dirty water from bathrooms, toilets, hotel kitchens and so on. The issues above have identified the areas where environmental operations still go wrong like in the case of a dumping site close to residential homes. This should alert not only the hotel management group but also people who may be interested in using their land for dumping business purposes. Energy conservation is part of environmental conservation and needs to be encouraged. The Australian EBA has found it important to make use of renewable energy sources (EBA, 2010). Why this is a Current Environmental Issue for Hotels and Resorts The reason why environmental pollution and energy conservation is a current issue for hotels relates to the functions of the hotels, the hotel operations and the people who visit the hotels. Hotels form part of resorts in some cases and are places where people can get food, accommodation and entertainment. Resorts are recreational centres where people go for holidays and involve in a lot of recreational activities. The aim of these organizations or businesses is to make profit or in some cases ensure sustainable tourism. It is therefore important for them to attract customers. A beach resort for example, cannot attract tourists if the waters around it are polluted. The hotels and resorts are also involved in waste disposals and their actions may lead to environmental pollution. Dumping of wastes close to the hotels or resorts, burning them or recycling them close to the resorts and hotels may cause environmental pollution. Since dumping of wastes close to residential homes was found to be unsafe, dumping sites were created. The sites are emptied when the wastes are recycled. One of the ways of recycling waste is burning to produce electricity. This however produces toxic gases such as SO2, and other toxic substances such as cadmium, chromium, mercury, Nickel and arsenic among others (IEH, 1997). Pollution has health effects to people and since hotels and resorts need people for their business, they have to be concerned about the health of the people. Air pollution by toxic gases for example may cause cancer (IEH, 1997). This may not concern the visitors, but the institutions’ managers have to know that they have employees whose health should also be of concern. Additionally, the businesses involve purchase of foods and in some cases, foods may be found to be contaminated by toxic substances like lead due to the use of contaminated fertilizers. Just as indicated in the above issues, some wastes are used to produce fertilizers which are contaminated with lead, plastic, glass and other different toxic substances. If a fertilizer was once allowed to be used in firms like the ‘organic output’ of New South Wales and the produce come out contaminated with lead, it becomes and environmental issue and the hotel management has to be aware. It is important for hotels and resorts to engage in environmental management for the institutions’ own benefit and for the benefit of the society. Environmental Management of Pollution and Energy Conservation The managers of hotels and resorts can decide to go green on environmental management. Environmental management is not a short term issue and should be considered as a long term commitment of the organization with identification of environmental issues, making of small improvements with time and integration of normal working schedules into the management of the environment (SPTO, 2010). It is also important to manage it at a pace that is right for the employees and at the right circumstances. The issue identified above is environmental pollution and energy conservation. This forms part of environmental management except that a specific issue to be dealt with has been identified already. According to SPTO, management of the environment has the following steps: Beginning at the top which entails being committed and passing the commitment to manage the environment to employees Planning which involves reviewing the activities of the organization considering the environmental issues and identifying areas of priority and taking action Taking action which involves making corrections where necessary for example if it was pollution due to dumping of wastes, the manager develops a strategy to ensure there is safe dumping of wastes and pollution eliminated. Minimising energy use is also part of environmental management and is considered a way to minimize cost. It would be important for hotels and resorts to develop energy minimizing methods which will help reduce cost but in the long run help conserve energy nationally. (SPTO, 2010). Since the identified issue is pollution, hotel and resort managers can review the activities of the organizations to determine what types of pollution the organization may cause. The steps described above can be followed for managing environmental pollution. If for example the pollution comes from the wastes, the hotel can develop a recycling program like the InterContinental Miami hotel management did and diverted 65% of the waste and making some annual savings as well. The hotel management could also install a waste reduction and recycling program like the Hyatt Regency hotels in Chicago did and reduced waste hauling costs as well as recovering 70% of the hotel materials (Mensah, 2004). Energy saving could be done through various ways for example; hotel management can decide to use energy saving compact fluorescent light bulbs. Water conservation programs can also be implemented and recycling done depending on what the activities the hotel or resort is involved in (Mensah, 2004). The Role of Human Resource Management in Environmental Management For a hotel to become environmentally friendly, the institution should adopt a culture that extends throughout the organization that is between the hotel and its vendors, the local community and the guests. This requires formation of an environmental management system which constitutes development of an environmental policy (describing the organization’s aims towards maintaining a clean and safe environment), the physical and cultural environment, a plan to act on environmental issues and implementation of the plan (Meade and Antonio del Monaco, 1999; Meade & Pringle, 2001). Policies are only guidelines that help the organization manage the environment and human resource form the most important part of the organization. A management system of the environment requires a manager and this has to be from the human resource department. Identification of the pollutants needs human resource with skills and knowledge about the pollutants and its effects. People have also to be aware of the pollutants and how to control or prevent them. This requires training and training is only made available by a human resource management. Additionally, it is the employees being trained. Human resource management is therefore very important in environmental management. Specific Functions In the case of environmental pollution, the environmental management manager of the hotel or resort should receive information from the employees about any pollutants or any ineffective method of preventing pollution. From the above issues, pollution is through so many agents. It may result from chemicals, wastes or green gas emissions among others. If for example the hotel disposes dirty water from the bathrooms, kitchen and those from cleaning rooms into the ocean or any water source after treating and this happens to experience problems, the manager should be informed and action taken against such kind of pollution. Specific functions depend on the environmental issue. The manager of environmental management however has to monitor every activity of the hotel or resort that can cause pollution and should implement strategies that prevent any form of pollution that can arise from resort or hotel activities. He or she delegates duties to other employees depending on the role of the employee and the activity that aims at eradicating or preventing pollution. Conclusion Environmental management and prevention of pollution helps the hotel management in two ways. It helps prevent health problems among the customers that might visit the hotel hence promoting business; it also prevents any ill health among the employees. Nationally, it contributes to safe environment for humans and animals. This paper has discussed pollution as an environmental issue, the role of human resource management and the specific human resource functions necessary for managing such issues. The environmental management system manager has the key role of ensuring that hotel or resort’s environment is safe and the organization achieves its aims according to environmental policies. References Applebome P., 2010, Old Story of Pollution; New Urgency This Time, January 31, New York Times, Retrieved on 9th, April 2010 from: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/01/nyregion/01towns.html. Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), (2010), Australia's Environment: Issues and Trends, Jan 2010, http://www.apo.org.au/research/australias-environment-issues-and-trends-jan-2010. Broder J. M., (2010), New E.P.A. Scrutiny Is Set for a Chemical in Plastics, March 29, New York Times. Retrieved on 9th, April, 2010 from: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/30/science/earth/30epa.html. Chen I., 2010, Cancer Kills Many Sea Lions, and Its Cause Remains a Mystery, March 4, New York Times. Retrieved on 8th, April, 2010 from: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/05/science/05sfsealion.html. EBA, 2010, Media release: EBA welcomes RET Approach, Sydney, 26 February. Retrieved on 9th, April, 2010 from http://www.environmentbusiness.com.au/n-mr-100226.asp. IEH, 1997, Health Effects of Waste Combustion Products. by the Institute in 1997. IEH Report (Report R7) Retrieved on 9th April, 2010 from; http://www.cranfield.ac.uk/health/researchareas/environmenthealth/ieh/ieh%20publications/wastelflt.pdf. Indah M. V., 2010, Environment-Indonesia: Solving Waste Woes Far from Easy, April 05, Inter Press Service. Retrieved on 9th, April, 2010 from: http://www.globalissues.org/news/2010/04/05/5103. Meade B., and Antonio del Monaco (1999), Environmental Management: The Key to Successful Operation, First Pan-American Conference Latin American Tourism in Next Millenium: Education, Investment and Sustainability, Edited by Professor Kaye Chon. Retrieved on 9th, April, 2010 from: http://www.hotel-online.com/Trends/PanAmerProceedingsMay99/EnviroManagmt.html. Meade, B and Pringle, J, (2001), Environmental Management Systems for Caribbean Hotels and Resorts: A Case Study of Five Properties in Jamaica, the Journal of Quality Assurance in Hospitality and Tourism, 2(4). PA Consulting Group. Retrieved on 9th, April, 2010 from: http://www.nric.net/tourism/handouts/Handout6-1.pdf. Mensah I., (2004), Environmental Management Practices in US Hotels, A Report. Retrieved on 9th, April, 2010 from: http://hotel-online.com/News/PR2004_2nd/May04_EnvironmentalPractices.html. New York Times (a), 2010, Finding Natural Gas, Safely, March 28, Retrieved on 9th, April 2010 from: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/29/opinion/29mon3.html. New York Times (b), (2010), Showdown at Indian Point, April 5, Retrieved on 9th, April, 2010 from: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/06/opinion/06tue3.html. South Pacific Tourism Organization, (SPTO), (2010) Environmental Management Guide for Small Hotels and Resorts, Retrieved on 8th, April, 2010 from: http://www.south-pacific.travel/spto/export/sites/spto/tourism_resources/spto_public/2004_07_environ_guide.pdf. Walsh N., 2010, 'Rules rushed' for Waste Fertiliser, April 09, ABC News. Retrieved on 9th, April, 2010 from: http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/04/08/2867631.htm. ‚‚ ‚‚ Read More