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Florida Green Lodging Program
The Florida Green Lodging Program is an effort by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection to encourage the lodging industry to conserve and protect Florida's natural resources. Hotels and Motels that implement a waste reduction plan can save money and get good publicity while helping the environment. However, lodging owners and managers need initiative and persistence to succeed.
For more information visit the Florida Green Lodging Program web site.
The Florida Department of Environmental Protection outlines the following elements implementing a successful Green Lodging Program.
- Identify an environmental champion.
A successful program needs an enthusiastic person with good communication and organizational skills who can get everyone working together as a team. The “environmental champion” does not necessarily have to be an environmental specialist; many champions have come from areas such as personnel, food and beverage, administrative offices and engineering. The environmental champion will serve as a liaison between the FGLC Program Office and the hotel/motel during the certification process.
- Obtain top management commitment and submit the admission application.
The most important ingredient for a successful environmental initiative is General Manager commitment. Having official sanction will let employees know that resource conservation is an important work responsibility. Once upper management has decided to pursue certification, complete this application. Once received, the FGLC Program Office will assign a liaison to assist you in the certification process and/or answer any questions.
- Create a Green Team.
A “Green Team” can be a formal or informal group responsible for ensuring that all environmental improvement practices in which the hotel is participating are being performed timely and correctly. A Green Team is usually comprised of individuals from each area of the hotel/motel, namely: housekeeping, engineering, kitchen, front office, maintenance and upper management.
- Conduct an environmental assessment.
How green is your facility right now? The Green Team should identify and evaluate opportunities to improve environmental performance by conducting a walk through of the hotel property. An Environmental Self-Assessment and Planning Checklist has been designed to provide guidance in obtaining baseline data (www.FloridaGreenLodging.org). A review of product purchases, utility bills and hauling records will help determine environmental baselines.
- Establish goals and identify environmental improvement projects.
The Green Team should set goals for improvement. Goals should include short- and long-term benchmarks (e.g. reduce electricity usage by 10% during the next year; reuse or recycle all corrugated cardboard; and reduce water usage by 15% by implementing a sheet and towel reuse program). To meet these goals, refer to the list of best management practices at www.FloridaGreenLodging.org for ideas on environmental improvement projects.
- Submit your environmental baseline data to the FGLC Program Office.
Once the Green Team has completed the Environmental Self-Assessment and Planning Checklist, submit it to the FGLC Program Office. Once received and approved, the hotel will be recognized as a Florida Green Lodge “candidate” on the FGLC Program website.
- Implement environmental improvement projects.
Begin implementing your environmental improvement projects. Remember staff training is a crucial part of a hotel’s environmental performance. Both new and veteran employees will benefit from ongoing training on resource conservation techniques.
- Evaluate and monitor the program.
Periodically monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of the improvement projects and make any changes necessary to improve performance. Keep your staff informed about their accomplishments.
- Schedule on-site certifying visit.
Once the Green Team feels they have satisfied the certification criteria, a brief on-site visit from a trained assessor is required. Fill out and submit the Request for On-site Certification Review form. A visit won’t be scheduled until a completed application is received. The purpose of the visit is to determine if all the criteria have been met. A hotel will be notified of the decision within 30 days of the visit. Upon receiving certification, the hotel’s name and accomplishments will be posted on the Florida Green Lodge web locator and the hotel will receive all the benefits outlined in Section IV.
- Practice continual improvement.
A Florida Green Lodge strives for continual improvement. After receiving certification, new goals and improvement projects must be established. After the first year, the hotel simply performs a self-assessment by evaluating utility and other bills to document changes in environmental performance since becoming a Florida Green Lodge. After the second year, the hotel will be re-certified by brief visit from a trained assessor.
For more information visit the Florida Green Lodging Program web site at:
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