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Dear Julian, 

This  best practice is used by a lot of hotels in Canada at least 10 years ago. They also recycle the used water  through the ecomanagement program. In addition to the stars reward for hotels, there also are green leaves  reward for hotels. Therefore, turning waste into value is a good project to improve the environmental performance of an organization.

Thanks!

Dear Julian, 

This  best practice is used by a lot of hotels in Canada at least 10 years ago. They also recycle the used water  through the ecomanagement program. In addition to the stars reward for hotels, there also are green leaves  reward for hotels. Therefore, turning waste into value is a good project to improve the environmental performance of an organization.

Thanks!

Dear Julian, 

This  best practice is used by a lot of hotels in Canada at least 10 years ago. They also recycle the used water  through the ecomanagement program. In addition to the stars reward for hotels, there also are green leaves  reward for hotels. Therefore, turning waste into value is a good project to improve the environmental performance of an organization.

Thanks!

Dear Julian, 

This  best practice is used by a lot of hotels in Canada at least 10 years ago. They also recycle the used water  through the ecomanagement program. In addition to the stars reward for hotels, there also are green leaves  reward for hotels. Therefore, turning waste into value is a good project to improve the environmental performance of an organization.

Thanks!

Julian, the main consideration I see is that the standard has to be adapted to what the site can actually measure and sustain. In a hotel with limited utility metering and an informal waste contractor, an aspects register built on honest estimates plus three or four objectives someone can evidence will do far more than a sophisticated framework that quietly stops being updated after six months.

The other one is local ownership. Where these programs hold, it is usually because a head chef or an engineering manager owns a number they genuinely care about, not because head office issued a policy. I would also let the practice come first and the certificate follow, since a destination that is still building supplier and waste infrastructure needs the operating discipline in place before the audit trail means anything.

------------------------------
Dilawar Laghari
Auditor, Consultant and Trainer
AuditWorkshop.com
------------------------------


Original Message:
Sent: 08-04-2026 06:52 AM
From: Julian Goh
Subject: Industry Observation 01: Hotel Food Waste Management

I agree. Many green practices were already adopted in mature tourism destinations years ago. The interesting observation is understanding how these practices evolve and become part of mainstream tourism development.

The next question is how we translate these observations into recognised standards and frameworks, and finally how they can be applied through practical case studies.

From your experience, what are the key considerations when adapting international sustainability standards into practical solutions for hotels in developing destinations?

---------------------------------
Julian Goh
Goh Business Practitioners
Supporting Hotels on Their Sustainability Journey
---------------------------------





Original Message:
Sent: 08-03-2026
From: Marc Kanho
Subject: RE: Industry Observation 01: Hotel Food Waste Management

Dear Julian, 

This  best practice is used by a lot of hotels in Canada at least 10 years ago. They also recycle the used water  through the ecomanagement program. In addition to the stars reward for hotels, there also are green leaves  reward for hotels. Therefore, turning waste into value is a good project to improve the environmental performance of an organization.

Thanks!

------------------------------
Marc Kanho
Senior QMS Lead Auditor and Consultant
K-Marc Canada
------------------------------

Sorry for the delayed response - I was away for about a week and am just catching up now.

I agree with your point that the standard has to be adapted to what the site can actually measure and sustain. In practice, I think the value is not in making the framework more sophisticated, but in making it usable enough that people continue applying it after the consultant leaves.

I was actually thinking about this during my recent stay in Malacca. I stayed at a small boutique hotel with limited manpower, and one thing I observed was that some of the larger technical issues, such as appliances and equipment, can often be handled by external contractors. But waste generated by in-house guests is much more immediate and visible. If it is not properly managed, it can directly affect the cleanliness and overall quality of the guest experience.

That made me wonder whether waste management should sometimes be treated as one of the most pressing operational sustainability issues for smaller hotels, rather than approaching sustainability primarily through equipment, technology or more sophisticated measurement systems.

I also really like your point about local ownership. If the head chef, engineering manager or operations manager genuinely owns a number they care about, the system becomes part of the operation rather than just another compliance exercise. And I agree that practice should come before certification - the certificate should recognise an operating discipline that already exists, rather than become the reason people start doing it.

This is actually very close to the direction I'm exploring now: how we can integrate sustainability standards into a practical improvement pathway that matches the maturity and actual capability of each tourism operation.

Do you think existing standards and frameworks such as Green Key, GSTC or ISO 14001 give us a sufficiently practical way to address guest-generated waste at this operational level, or is there a gap where we could develop a more practical intervention framework?

------------------------------
Julian Goh
Goh Business Practitioners
Supporting Hotels on Their Sustainability Journey
------------------------------


Original Message:
Sent: 08-06-2026 11:32 PM
From: Dilawar Laghari
Subject: Industry Observation 01: Hotel Food Waste Management

Julian, the main consideration I see is that the standard has to be adapted to what the site can actually measure and sustain. In a hotel with limited utility metering and an informal waste contractor, an aspects register built on honest estimates plus three or four objectives someone can evidence will do far more than a sophisticated framework that quietly stops being updated after six months.

The other one is local ownership. Where these programs hold, it is usually because a head chef or an engineering manager owns a number they genuinely care about, not because head office issued a policy. I would also let the practice come first and the certificate follow, since a destination that is still building supplier and waste infrastructure needs the operating discipline in place before the audit trail means anything.

------------------------------
Dilawar Laghari
Auditor, Consultant and Trainer
AuditWorkshop.com
------------------------------



Original Message:
Sent: 08-04-2026 06:52 AM
From: Julian Goh
Subject: Industry Observation 01: Hotel Food Waste Management

I agree. Many green practices were already adopted in mature tourism destinations years ago. The interesting observation is understanding how these practices evolve and become part of mainstream tourism development.

The next question is how we translate these observations into recognised standards and frameworks, and finally how they can be applied through practical case studies.

From your experience, what are the key considerations when adapting international sustainability standards into practical solutions for hotels in developing destinations?

---------------------------------
Julian Goh
Goh Business Practitioners
Supporting Hotels on Their Sustainability Journey
---------------------------------






Original Message:
Sent: 08-03-2026
From: Marc Kanho
Subject: RE: Industry Observation 01: Hotel Food Waste Management

Dear Julian, 

This  best practice is used by a lot of hotels in Canada at least 10 years ago. They also recycle the used water  through the ecomanagement program. In addition to the stars reward for hotels, there also are green leaves  reward for hotels. Therefore, turning waste into value is a good project to improve the environmental performance of an organization.

Thanks!

------------------------------
Marc Kanho
Senior QMS Lead Auditor and Consultant
K-Marc Canada
------------------------------

Julian, my honest view is that 14001 gives you the mechanism and not much more. It will make a hotel identify the aspect, set an objective and monitor something, but it is deliberately silent on how to change what happens at a breakfast buffet. Green Key and GSTC tell a property what to have rather than how to run it, so they lift the baseline and then stop.

I do not think the gap calls for another framework though. It needs the operating detail underneath whichever one they pick, something as ordinary as weighing plate waste at one service for a fortnight, matching production to covers, and letting the chef see the number daily. The standards can carry that once it exists, they just do not supply it.

Sorry for the delayed response - I was away for about a week and am just catching up now.

I agree with your point that the standard has to be adapted to what the site can actually measure and sustain. In practice, I think the value is not in making the framework more sophisticated, but in making it usable enough that people continue applying it after the consultant leaves.

I was actually thinking about this during my recent stay in Malacca. I stayed at a small boutique hotel with limited manpower, and one thing I observed was that some of the larger technical issues, such as appliances and equipment, can often be handled by external contractors. But waste generated by in-house guests is much more immediate and visible. If it is not properly managed, it can directly affect the cleanliness and overall quality of the guest experience.

That made me wonder whether waste management should sometimes be treated as one of the most pressing operational sustainability issues for smaller hotels, rather than approaching sustainability primarily through equipment, technology or more sophisticated measurement systems.

I also really like your point about local ownership. If the head chef, engineering manager or operations manager genuinely owns a number they care about, the system becomes part of the operation rather than just another compliance exercise. And I agree that practice should come before certification - the certificate should recognise an operating discipline that already exists, rather than become the reason people start doing it.

This is actually very close to the direction I'm exploring now: how we can integrate sustainability standards into a practical improvement pathway that matches the maturity and actual capability of each tourism operation.

Do you think existing standards and frameworks such as Green Key, GSTC or ISO 14001 give us a sufficiently practical way to address guest-generated waste at this operational level, or is there a gap where we could develop a more practical intervention framework?

------------------------------
Julian Goh
Goh Business Practitioners
Supporting Hotels on Their Sustainability Journey
------------------------------



Original Message:
Sent: 08-06-2026 11:32 PM
From: Dilawar Laghari
Subject: Industry Observation 01: Hotel Food Waste Management

Julian, the main consideration I see is that the standard has to be adapted to what the site can actually measure and sustain. In a hotel with limited utility metering and an informal waste contractor, an aspects register built on honest estimates plus three or four objectives someone can evidence will do far more than a sophisticated framework that quietly stops being updated after six months.

The other one is local ownership. Where these programs hold, it is usually because a head chef or an engineering manager owns a number they genuinely care about, not because head office issued a policy. I would also let the practice come first and the certificate follow, since a destination that is still building supplier and waste infrastructure needs the operating discipline in place before the audit trail means anything.

------------------------------
Dilawar Laghari
Auditor, Consultant and Trainer
AuditWorkshop.com
------------------------------




Original Message:
Sent: 08-04-2026 06:52 AM
From: Julian Goh
Subject: Industry Observation 01: Hotel Food Waste Management

I agree. Many green practices were already adopted in mature tourism destinations years ago. The interesting observation is understanding how these practices evolve and become part of mainstream tourism development.

The next question is how we translate these observations into recognised standards and frameworks, and finally how they can be applied through practical case studies.

From your experience, what are the key considerations when adapting international sustainability standards into practical solutions for hotels in developing destinations?

---------------------------------
Julian Goh
Goh Business Practitioners
Supporting Hotels on Their Sustainability Journey
---------------------------------







Original Message:
Sent: 08-03-2026
From: Marc Kanho
Subject: RE: Industry Observation 01: Hotel Food Waste Management

Dear Julian, 

This  best practice is used by a lot of hotels in Canada at least 10 years ago. They also recycle the used water  through the ecomanagement program. In addition to the stars reward for hotels, there also are green leaves  reward for hotels. Therefore, turning waste into value is a good project to improve the environmental performance of an organization.

Thanks!

------------------------------
Marc Kanho
Senior QMS Lead Auditor and Consultant
K-Marc Canada
------------------------------

Hi Julian, very interesting discussion.

One point I would add is that before choosing the standard, framework or technology, the hotel needs a measurement system that makes food-waste performance genuinely comparable.

Total kilograms of waste alone can be misleading when occupancy, meals served, menu mix or event volume changes. I would therefore normalise the data - for example, waste per guest or per meal served - and separate preparation waste, spoilage, buffet surplus and plate waste.

That distinction is important because each category points to a different root cause and therefore a different control.

For me, AI becomes most valuable only after that measurement logic is stable. It can then support forecasting, purchasing, production planning and pattern detection. Otherwise, we risk using sophisticated technology to analyse inconsistent data.

The real objective should not simply be to measure less waste, but to create a reliable evidence chain from source → cause → action → verified improvement.

I agree with the measurement point, especially the distinction between the different waste categories and the need to normalise the data. That makes the evidence much more useful for identifying the right intervention.

This brings me back to the framework question, though. If we have a chain of source → cause → action → verified improvement, would you consider that simply a measurement and operational methodology, or could it form part of a broader implementation framework?

For example, could a framework define how the hotel moves from standard/criteria → measurement → diagnosis → prioritisation → intervention → monitoring → verification, while the actual tools and indicators sit underneath it?

I'm interested in how you would draw the boundary between a standard, a framework, a methodology and an operational tool.

Hi Julian, very interesting discussion.

One point I would add is that before choosing the standard, framework or technology, the hotel needs a measurement system that makes food-waste performance genuinely comparable.

Total kilograms of waste alone can be misleading when occupancy, meals served, menu mix or event volume changes. I would therefore normalise the data - for example, waste per guest or per meal served - and separate preparation waste, spoilage, buffet surplus and plate waste.

That distinction is important because each category points to a different root cause and therefore a different control.

For me, AI becomes most valuable only after that measurement logic is stable. It can then support forecasting, purchasing, production planning and pattern detection. Otherwise, we risk using sophisticated technology to analyse inconsistent data.

The real objective should not simply be to measure less waste, but to create a reliable evidence chain from source → cause → action → verified improvement.