Green-Key

From Guest Experience to Lasting Impact Across the hospitality industry, plastic pollution has become one of the biggest sustainability challenges, and hotels are on the frontline. Hotels, being hubs of comfort and service, are also at the forefront of this issue. From single-use toiletry bottles and disposable packaging to the less visible plastic waste guests bring in, such as water bottles, takeaway containers, or shopping bags.     What seems small in a single room becomes massive when scaled across an entire property or hotel group 365 days a year. Hoteliers need solutions that reduce plastic waste without compromising service or guest satisfaction.  Green Key International partners with organizations that share its mission of measurable, practical impact. One such partner, Diversey, has taken major steps to rethink how cleaning and hygiene products can reduce plastic waste while maintaining high standards of safety, cleanliness, and guest experience. Together, Green Key & Diversey can accelerate impact and close the gap between intention and implementation because progress requires innovation, collaboration, and knowledge sharing.     Redefining Clean: From Hygiene to Responsibility  Sustainability trends are reshaping how cleaning and hygiene are defined in hospitality. Hotels are no longer judged only by how clean they are, but by how responsibly they clean.  Today’s new standards in hospitality include plastic minimisation, responsible packaging, and the ambition to become plastic neutral. Yet too many cleaning products are still packaged in virgin plastic that is difficult to recycle and nearly impossible to dispose of responsibly.     Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Rethink  Diversey approaches plastic reduction through four guiding principles Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, and Rethink, turning plastic packaging from a waste challenge into measurable ESG impact.     Optimised for Recycling  Too many plastic items in hotels, including cleaning product packaging available on the market are still made of virgin plastic and are difficult to recycle, making proper disposal a challenge.   To lead the shift to a circular economy, Diversey is reducing virgin plastic use, innovating sustainable packaging, and integrating recycled materials. By the end of 2025, all 5L canisters will have transitioned to Post-Consumer Recycled (PCR) plastic, cutting virgin plastic while maintaining durability, safety, and performance.   Redesigned Housekeeping Range  Diversey redesigned also its Room Care SafePack® pouches into fully recyclable, mono-material packaging that empties completely, leaving no residue and supporting circularity in regions with advanced recycling infrastructure such as Europe By moving away from virgin plastic to fully recyclable pouches, Diversey not only reduces its own environmental footprint but also helps hotels reduce theirs.     With Room Care Plus Pur-Eco, over 75% of daily room cleaning products now carry the EU Ecolabel. Using concentrated formulations and closed dosing systems, hotels can cut packaging waste by up to 98% compared to ready-to-use bottles. Less plastic waste, lower CO₂ emissions, and consistent performance without compromising hygiene or guest satisfaction.  Plastic-Free Personal Care  Guest amenities and handsoap often generate large amounts of unnoticed plastic waste. To address this hidden plastic waste stream, Diversey introduced LESSEAU®, a plastic-free hand hygiene solution made from 99% natural ingredients. Each solid soap bar replaces up to seven 1-liter plastic liquid handwash bottles, reducing both plastic and transport emissions.  Used with a refillable dispenser that turns the bar into rich lather, hotels can maintain the same level of hygiene and guest experience without the use of plastic. Scaling innovations like this across thousands of rooms creates measurable progress toward circular hospitality, where every refill, reuse, and redesign counts.  Take Back and Upcycling Where Needed Most  In many parts of the world, recycling infrastructure is still limited. When there is no suitable recycling facility available for hotels, plastic waste must be treated as residual waste and incinerated the least sustainable option in the waste hierarchy, as it does not contribute to circularity. But every bottle or container discarded is a lost opportunity for circular progress.   To change that, Diversey partnered with Corsair in Thailand to launch a plastic take-back initiative for hotels. Collected waste is diverted from the environment and converted into valuable materials such as Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF): — reducing leakage, creating local jobs, and supporting circular progress and enabling hotels to make a tangible contribution to a cleaner future.  Beyond Thailand, we expanded our PlasticShredssm programme, an upcycling initiative. The program transforms used plastic waste into durable materials for infrastructures replacing gravel in village roads, pavements, and even sports courts.  By turning plastic waste into something that strengthens communities, Diversey closes the loop on materials that once caused harm. This is circular hospitality in action combining environmental responsibility with social impact, where every piece of plastic recovered builds both resilience and regeneration. For more information about PlasticShredsSM  or other CSV- programmes, click here.    Diversey reimagined its cleaning solutions to simplify recycling, eliminate plastic where possible, and give waste new purpose where recycling falls short. Because small design changes can spark big change helping hospitality turn sustainability goals into lasting impact for the environment, guests, and local communities.  Disclaimer  This article includes sustainability-related claims based on internal testing, customer case studies, and verified product specifications. All environmental data reflects available figures at the time of publication and assumes typical hotel usage scenarios. Claims regarding recyclability, CO₂ savings, and plastic reductions are based on current market conditions in the regions specified. For full methodology, verification data, or certificate references, please contact Solenis.   

Green Key International and Shilla Hotels have begun shaping a new partnership that places education, behavioural change and long term sustainability at the centre of hotel management. The company has expressed a strong commitment to developing sustainability practices that are embedded in local culture and local hotel operations.  During recent discussions, Finn Bolding Thomsen, International Director of Green Key International, emphasised that the heart of Green Key is not only in the registration of consumption and reduction of use of resources, but also in education. He explained that any true progress depends on the education of all stakeholders and noted that meaningful change requires awareness, knowledge and a shared sense of responsibility. Daniel Schaffer, CEO of the Foundation for Environmental Education, added that the challenge lies in placing emphasis on behavioural change, education and public awareness. He highlighted that changing minds remains difficult but essential.  Shilla Hotels shares this ambition. The Group aims to develop initiatives that speak to long term commitments and is working towards ambitious sustainability goals, including carbon neutrality by the year 2050 and improvements to existing practices such as reducing plastic wrapping in favour of more efficient and environmentally responsible solutions. Shilla Hotels also plans to strengthen governance through the creation of an ESG Community.  The Company already runs a wide range of projects that support communities and the environment. These include Delicious Jeju, programmes centred on employee welfare, and Unexpected Luck, a Jeju based customer service initiative offering complimentary rooms in the event of travel delays. Their Offline Environmental Activities bring together students and volunteers in environmental projects, while their Shilla Eco Bags, the use of electric vehicles and the transition from plastic to paper bags demonstrate the group’s intention to integrate sustainability into everyday operations.  The collaboration aims to support Shilla Hotels in developing sustainability initiatives that lead to measurable progress and long-term behavioural change. By combining Shilla’s commitment to innovation with Green Key’s expertise in education and responsible operation, both organisations aim to inspire guests, staff and communities across Asia to adopt more sustainable habits.  A special thank you to Daniel Lee Rhi, Marketing Senior Manager, and Jooyoung Lee, Marketing Director, for sharing their insights and choosing Green Key as collaboration partner.  If you wish to learn more about Green Key criteria, certified sites or the certification process, you may visit our homepage or register to one of our Intro Session below Learn more about Green Key Register to an intro session

Green Key has entered into a partnership with Corendon as part of the travel company’s growing commitment to responsible tourism and credible certification. Through this collaboration, both organisations aim to support more hotels and accommodations in obtaining recognised sustainability certification, helping the sector make measurable and transparent progress.  Corendon’s Sustainability Manager, Floor Bregman, highlights the importance of certification in driving improvement:  “Although certificates and labels are not the ultimate solution, they remain one of the few ways to make the sustainability performance of our partners comparable and transparent. The certifications Corendon works with are verified independently on an annual or biennial basis. A certified hotel may not make a holiday entirely sustainable, but it represents a meaningful step in the right direction.”  Green Key is proud to be the leading international certification programme for sustainable tourism and hospitality. With around 8,000 certified establishments worldwide, the programme provides hotels with a clear and credible framework to strengthen their sustainability performance and gain recognition for their efforts. Bregman adds:  “Green Key is a relatively well-known and accessible certification, which makes our collaboration with them a logical and valuable development.”  To strengthen this joint effort, Green Key and Corendon will soon launch a series of webinars and training sessions designed to guide hotels through the certification process. These sessions will provide practical support to help properties meet the Green Key criteria and gain recognition for their achievements.  Through this partnership, Green Key and Corendon are working together to encourage higher standards across the hospitality sector. The initiative not only helps hotels reduce their environmental impact and operate more responsibly but also enables travellers to make better-informed choices when selecting their accommodation.