REDUCE, REUSE AND RECYCLE

Circular economy

We reduce our carbon emissions while giving your vacation a whole new meaning

Fighting climate change is everyone's job and together we are reducing our carbon emissions at every stage of your stay. In 2022, CO2 emissions were reduced by 10% at our hotels. Thanks to the implementation of technology, food waste was minimized, saving more than half a million plates of food. In addition, our hotels have been single-use plastic-free since 2020. We are 20 years ahead of the global target and are on track to achieve carbon neutrality by 2030. Also, we are committed to not having any waste sent to landfills by 2025. Read on to find out why this is so important and see how we are achieving it.

  • Lower emissions

  • Waste reduction

  • Renewable energy

  • No plastic

Play video
a bedroom with a large bed in a room Play Video

A more sustainable Iberostar Cristina

Iberostar Cristina is the first Iberostar hotel in Spain that has stopped generating CO2 emissions in its energy consumption. As a guest, you won't notice this, so we want to explain what has changed every time you turn on your reading lamp or take the elevator.

Until now, part of the energy used in the hotel came from fossil fuels such as gas. The burning of these fuels causes carbon emissions. Our goal is to reduce emissions as much as possible and thus contribute to curbing climate change. Along these lines, at Iberostar, we are committed to becoming carbon neutral by 2030, 20 years ahead of the sector's target. Iberostar Cristina has achieved this 27 years ahead of schedule.

How was it done? Making the hotel's day-to-day energy supply, such as heating, hot water, and kitchen equipment, come from electricity that is from 100% renewable sources. In addition, solar panels have been installed on the hotel's rooftop to generate part of this electricity on-site, and the hotel's energy consumption has been reduced thanks to improvements such as investments in efficient technology.

a man standing in front of a mirror posing for the camera

No single-use plastics

In 2020, we were one of the first hotel chains in the world to eliminate single-use plastics and thus took our first step toward circularity. This was just the beginning of a long journey toward implementing a circular economy in our hotels, opting for secondary materials, prolonging the service life of products and materials, recovering, recirculating, repairing and, ultimately, recycling. Once this objective was reached, we carried on working toward our goal of not sending any waste to landfills or incinerators by 2025.

How can you contribute to a circular economy?

Join the #WasteFree movement

Summer break is nearly over but, when you get back home, there are ways to keep on driving circularity forward. Try to avoid packaging and reuse whatever you can several times. With a bit of creativity, even the family’s youngest members will be surprised by how many lives certain containers can have before ending up in the trash. 

Manage waste

Let’s find new uses for products, and let’s make sure to check their labels before recycling them: certain products will not be recycled, despite us placing them in the corresponding container. Would you be up for installing a composting station at home to manage organic waste?

Reduce your carbon footprint

Beyond supporting initiatives to stop climate change, we can opt for a diet that respects the environment, including plant-based foods and responsibly sourced fish. Also, try to use energy responsibly: lowering the air conditioning or heating by a few degrees is an easy way to do this. 

What is the circular economy?

Now that you know you won’t find any single-use plastics at our hotels, perhaps you’d like to delve a little deeper into the concept of the circular economy. What is the circular economy and what are its fundamental principles?

We currently have a linear production model whereby we extract resources from our planet in order to manufacture new products that we use and then dispose of. The circular economy aims to change this production and consumption model, to design without generating either waste or pollution, to keep products and materials in use, and to regenerate natural and social systems. At Iberostar, we want to make this concept a reality at our hotels.

During your next vacation at your Iberostar hotel, you’ll see that elements can be designed without producing waste and without polluting the environment. And the best thing about it? These products and materials can be kept in use without needing to produce them again and again. This is why Iberostar is focused on a strategy of transitioning towards renewable energy sources, with an all-encompassing transformation that designs hotels to be circular from the very start of the value chain. 

We invite you to discover Iberostar’s circular economy strategy, our achievements, and our plans for the future.  

 

a person looking at the cell phone

More sustainable vacations

Find out more about everything you can do to help protect the environment while staying at our hotels and about the initiatives we have in place to look after both you and our planet. Find out more about our pioneering Wave of Change movement. 

Learn more