The Peppermill Resort Spa Casino has been named a gold-level partner in TripAdvisor’s GreenLeaders program, which identifies environmentally friendly accommodations across the United States. Travelers searching the TripAdvisor website can search for accommodations that have GreenLeaders status, meaning they have met a set of environmental standards developed for TripAdvisor.
“TripAdvisor GreenLeaders are leading the hospitality industry in making efforts to improve their environmental footprint,” Jenny Rushmore, director of responsible travel at TripAdvisor, said. “We greatly applaud these accommodations and are pleased to share their eco-friendly practices with our online audience of more than 200 million travelers.”
The Peppermill lists among its green initiatives a $9.7 million geothermal system that heats 100 percent of the resort’s domestic water through the 2.1 million-square-foot facility, effectively replacing the natural gas boilers that once heated the facility. Additional green initiatives include:
- A partnership with Clean the World, a nonprofit that collects, sorts and processes discarded soaps and shampoos from hospitality partners for redistribution to children in Third World countries. The Peppermill diverts more than 1,000 pounds of soap and shampoo per month from local landfills and to communities in need.
- Participation in an organics/composting program in which food scraps from the casino’s kitchens are transported by Waste Management to a local composting facility. The Peppermill diverts 60 yards of organics waste from the local landfill community per month, and plans to increase that amount.
- Installation of more than 30,000 square feet of artificial grass turf, saving about 5.1 million gallons of water per season, as well as reducing chemical and pesticide use.
- Installation of a water recycling system for all laundry services, conserving millions of gallons of water per year. The Peppermill also installed an Aqua Recycling system that captures, filters and reuses commercial wash machine gray laundry water. An ongoing property-wide water conservation program through room placards encourages the reuse of towels and water conservation; also, guest bed linens and towels, per stay, are changed on a request-only basis.
- Creation of a virtually paperless human resources department through the implementation of new software systems and by transferring all forms and documents into digital applications.
The TripAdvisor GreenLeaders program was developed in partnership with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Energy Star program, the U.S. Green Building Council and the United Nations Environment Programme. Details: www.tripadvisor.com/GreenLeaders.
