Fairmont Washington, D.C., Georgetown
Featured Profile
Service+ and Food Waste Champions
2401 M St. NW, Washington DC 20037
Total square footage: 411,396 sq. ft. | Meeting space: 12,988.2 sq. ft. | Rooms: 413
Fairmont Washington, D.C., Georgetown, under the leadership of their Executive Steward and support from the Director of Operations, participated in a 4-month demonstration project to separate, measure, prevent, and divert food waste from landfill. The following are the highlights from their participation in this process.
Successes
The visual nature of the color-coded pre- and post-service food waste separation system that The Fairmont put in place allowed for:
- Pre-shift and by-the-minute waste reduction strategy conversations with staff,
- Removal of landfill bins from banquet breakdown stations as they became nonessential,
- Deviation from the standard 5% event overage, which significantly lowered overproduced meals due to reduced number of fired ingredients,
- Consistent prevention of trash compactor overflow,
- Inclusion of food management strategy in “Service +” Colleague of the Month decision making, and
- A better understanding within hotel management of the unaccounted costs associated with food waste.
Service + is The Fairmont’s Employee of the Month Program
We strive to reduce our environmental impact by strategically integrating innovative practices across our operations globally
Fairmont Sustainability Partnership
Challenges
When the The Fairmont joined the Hotel Food Waste Management Pilots they had no organics separation in place and were having difficulty institutionalizing a consistent food donation program. While The Fairmont team replaced bins and administered staff trainings, they had trouble communicating their separation strategy to overnight or temporary workers as well as finding a local compost hauler that could accommodate their volume of organic waste.
Donation
After developing a relationship with a local vendor, Fat Worm Composting, rolling out new signs, and hosting an Earth Day event targeted at combating food waste, separation became institutionalized across their food service staff.
The Fairmont celebrated Earth Week by organizing a program that included t-shirts, staff cafeteria separation demos and visual bin audits. This, along with pictographic bin signage and magnetic flatware-capturing bin lids, led to decreased levels of contamination in food waste bins.
Next Steps
The Fairmont will continue separating food waste and informing future prevention mechanisms with data feedback from Fat Worm Composting. Culinarians are assessing the necessity of a standard 5% event overage and are making by-the-minute prep adjustments for events. The property’s food waste reduction efforts will continue and be tracked in AccorHotel’s Planet21 efficiency tracking interface. In the future, The Fairmont Green Team is interested in developing and maintaining relationships with local donation partners.
Our priority is to provide memorable experiences to our guests, while integrating sustainable practices in their stay.