The ECOTEL® Certification is a unique program with very stringent acceptance criteria. Since the ECOTEL® Certification’s creation in 1994, over 1,100 hotels from more than 30 countries have applied for the certification. To date, less than 5% of these applicants have ever actually passed the certification inspection. For this reason, the ECOTEL® Certification is highly regarded.

The Orchid exhibits every characteristic one would expect to find at an operation that is considered world-leading in the realm of environmental responsibility. The hotel’s Green Team has created a solid - waste - management system so detailed that the only waste that does escape is composted in the on-site vermiculture zone; most of the bricks and cement used in the actual construction of the hotel utilize recycled materials; and all of the wooden furniture inside the hotel is made from recycled cotton plants. Additionally, solar panels adorn the roof terrace, and cutting-edge thermal ice storage equipment helps the hotel conserve energy during periods of high demand. The guestrooms even include an “Eco-button” conservation device invented by Mr. Kannampilly. The Orchid also provides CNG vehicles to transport guests from the airports to the hotel.

Valentine Lehr, principal of the internationally acclaimed engineering consulting firm Lehr Associates, conducted the ECOTEL® inspection at the Orchid. Throughout the four years that the hotel has been in operation, the engineering team headed by Chief Engineer Mr. K. P. Das has gone to great lengths to monitor consumption levels. After a detailed inspection of every facet of the hotel and its consumption reports, Mr. Lehr commented that “consumption levels here are far below the norms for full-service luxury hotels.”  

But it is not these elements that make the Orchid’s environmental program particularly extraordinary. What makes the Orchid a leader in the hospitality industry are the totally new and innovative ideas that the managers and staff at the hotel have conceived and turned into action. Much of what the Orchid focuses its time on today is unparalleled in the hotel industry.

For example, the Orchid’s work with community and environmental organizations is unprecedented. The hotel works with more than 12 non-government organizations (NGOs) dedicated to environmental goals. It also created the first corporate-sponsored Advance Land Management (ALM) program, whereby residents get together, pool their money, and hire clean-up crews and landscapers to restore and beautify their surroundings. Never before had a corporation taken the initiative. Soon after beginning the ALM, nearly every one of the Orchid’s neighboring hotels had become involved.

In one example, the Green Team put together an event to organize volunteers to participate in a local drive to clean up plastic bags from the streets of Mumbai. The event turned out to be more successful than even the hotel could imagine, with volunteers from more than 70 schools collecting some 2.25-million plastic bags from the streets. The amount of plastic was enough to fill a delivery truck so tightly that not another bag could be added. All of this was accomplished in under 30 days. 

In another example, the hotel worked with the government to establish a pollution-control check-point where staff from the hotel inspected taxis for the proper pollution-control devices, and issued fines to those taxis that were not properly equipped on behalf of the government. This event was so successful that staff now plans to form mobile brigades of pollution inspectors to cover more territory.

Currently, the Orchid is finalizing a project to help other local hotels finance the replacement of CFC air conditioners with environmentally responsible new equipment. 

The staff is always working toward the goal of ‘zero-garbage’, employing every idea that they can think of to help eliminate or reduce wastes.

The hotel has been very pro-active in working with suppliers to encourage them to help decrease the wastes brought into the hotel. The hotel has a meeting for all their suppliers on Earth Day. This past year, management asked the suppliers to help reduce waste by another 30%. Since beginning this effort, waste had decreased greatly, including cardboard waste which is lower by 38%.

The hotel handles almost 300 kg of organic waste each day using their array of 9 vermiculture pits. These pits produce rich fertilizer that the hotel sells for a profit. Even old rice bags are used to pack and store the finished product. Even the building itself wins points for the hotel’s solid waste management effort. PPC (Portland Pozzalana Cement) containing 15-20% recycled fly ash, bricks made from fertilizer

The Orchid Hotel Mumbai, India

Wood furnishings in guestrooms are made of recycled cotton stocks.
Exterior walls are made of ACC, which is manufactured using 60% recycled fly-ash. This brick substitute has better thermal insulation and sound absorption than normal bricks.

The staff is so dedicated to solid waste management that they recently ousted a supplier who could not provide adequate proof that his products were actually made from recycled materials.

The Green Team remembers that when they began their work in 1996, there were very few local suppliers dealing in environmentally responsible products.  But after 4 years of work, the Orchid has a list of over 500 companies that supply them with these products.

To keep their relationships with these green-supply companies strong, the Orchid organizes events to help them network among themselves. During these events, Director Param Kannampilly asks everyone in attendance to further help the hotel by coming up with new ways to bring less waste into the hotel.

The staff makes a concerted effort to collect and reuse keycards from guests that check out of the hotel. The effort is very successful, as over a period of 181,000 check-ins, only 14,000 new cards were ordered. This means that the average keycard is used 7.7 times!

Guests are asked if they would like a newspaper at check-in. results show that only 50% actually want a paper, thus the effort reduces waste.
Guest messages are delivered to guests via phones and through a special system on the television - never by paper.

Paper coasters are collected and reused whenever possible.

Citrus rinds left over after fruits are removed are reused to make sour lime chutney for the Indian restaurant and EcoTeria.

After careful consideration, the kitchen and wait staff decided to garnish drinks and plates with lemon slices rather than wedges, concluding that more slices can be cut from each single lemon, hence the slice is a better use of the hotel’s lemon resources.

Rubber wood products are used throughout the Orchid. Rubber wood is a by product of the rubber sap industry, as the trees are cut after the sap is drawn, and typically discarded (rubber wood is soft). In this process, the wood processed, vacuumed, and kiln seasoned to make it usable dimensional stability.

Coat hangers in guestrooms are made from pressed sawdust rather than new wood.

Newspapers are delivered in re-usable thatched bags rather than plastic.
All waste bags used in the hotel are made from post consumer recycled plastic.

Stewarding uses electric chaffing dishes to eliminate the need for canister fuels.

Paints used on the exterior of the hotel are water based with negligible VOC content of 0.0125%. All interior paints are rated at 0% VOC content, for environmental protection, and for the protection of the guests’ health. While using such paints is much more expensive than conventional paints, the decision is consistent with the hotel’s commitment to environmental initiatives.
Potted plants cultivated on a nursery off site are used in public areas and guestrooms to eliminate the waste that cut flowers produce.

Left over shampoo is combined and later used to make cleaning detergent for floor areas.

Toilet rolls too small for guestrooms are re-used back of house.

HVS International was created in 1980 to satisfy the growing demand for reliable and well-documented hotel market studies and feasibility reports. With 12 offices worldwide, HVS offers a vast range of services including valuations, strategic analyses, development planning, litigation support, executive search, waste management, gaming and restaurant consulting, asset management, operational and management strategy development, and timeshare consulting services.