GPN-GL15

Using Guidelines for

Hotels and Inns
Green Purchasing Network (GPN)

1. Scope
These guidelines cover important environmental issues that shall be considered when selecting andusing accommodations such as hotels and inns.
2. Guidelines
When selecting and using accommodations such as hotels and inns, the matters listed in the Ecochallenge Checklist for “Hotels and Inns” shall be considered in selecting and using accommodations
that are advanced in environmental conservation.
Eco-challenge Checklist for “Hotels and Inns”<Contents>
The checklist consists of the following five categories.
I. Attitudes toward environmental conservation
II. Food- and drink-related environmental consideration
III. Resource efficiency and recycling
IV. Efforts to combat climate change
V. Green purchasing, chemical substances, etc.
<Basic Items>
Of the items of the Eco-challenge Checklist for “Hotels and Inns” the items which are basic and easily
implemented as the first steps shall be selected.
<Allotment>
In principle, one point shall be allotted to each item and half point or two points shall be allotted tothe items that come under the following cases.
Half point allotment:
 Cases where the efforts have already been carried out by the majority of accommodation
facilities, but are still needed to be remained as important ideas
Two points allotment:
 Cases where the item shall contribute to environmental conservation and be expected for great
improvement by the efforts
 Cases where the efforts shall greatly influence the organization and other efforts

Cases where the efforts with originality and active capital investment shall be considered asadvanced*These guidelines are subject to change in accordance with new findings and changes in socialconditions.
Established December 13, 2002
Revised October 17, 2005
Latest Revised March 22, 2018
By Green Purchasing Network (GPN)

The conditions for hotels and inns to be run in the Eco-challenge Database for “Hotels and Inns”
The conditions for hotels and inns to be run in the database shall be to meet the requirements of atleast 11 of the following 15 “basic items”.
Basic 15 items

No.

☐A hotel or an inn shall have its own environmental policies.

1☐

A hotel or an inn shall regularly review its environment management andimplementation results more than once a year to make its future activities
more effective.

5☐

A hotel or an inn shall determine the quantities and types of wastes such as
packing materials and wastes from guestrooms except for food waste to set
concrete targets and plans for waste reduction and recycling.

9☐

A hotel or an inn shall assess its own energy consumption including
electricity, heavy oil, and gas to set concrete targets and plans to reduce
consumption of those.

11☐

A hotel or an inn shall prevent dead stock through food inventory
management, control food preparation based on the expected number ofguests, and use leftover ingredients effectively in order to reduce kitchen
wastes and leftover food.

20☐

Kitchen wastes and leftover food shall be dehydrated to reduce weight.

23☐

None of amenities shall be doubly wrapped.

34☐

Wastes brought in by guests shall be separated and recycled.

42☐

Furniture including beds, chairs, and tables in the guest rooms shall berepaired and reformed to be used for a long time.

43☐

Various types of paper including copy paper, newspapers, magazines, and44

corrugated cardboard shall be separate and recycled.
☐PET bottles, beverage cans, and glass bins shall be separated and recycled.

45☐

A hotel or an inn shall replace incandescent light bulbs inside facilities withcompact self-ballasted fluorescent lamps or LED lamps and install HF inverters
or LED luminaires as fluorescent luminaires (20% or more of light bulbs andfluorescent luminaires shall be replaced with compact self-ballasted
fluorescent lamps/LED lamps and HF inverters/LED luminaires).

55☐

A hotel or an inn shall proactively maintain machines and devices considering
energy-saving for their efficient work.

65☐

A hotel or an inn shall have developed procurement policies for copy paper,and environmentally friendly products shall account for 80 percent of all copy
paper that have been already used.

69☐

A hotel or an inn shall have developed procurement policies for toilet paper,and environmentally friendly products shall account for 80 percent of all70

toilet paper that have been already used.
* “No.” corresponds to the item number of The Eco-challenge Checklist.

Eco-challenge Checklist for “Hotels and Inns”
I. Attitudes for environmental conservation(1) Efforts at the level of the entire businessNo* Basic items

Check items

Allotment

1

A hotel or an inn shall have its own environmental policies.

2

2

A hotel or an inn shall determine its environmental impacts, and set
targets and plans to reduce the impacts;
 In one or two categories

1 In more than three categories

2

3

A hotel or an inn shall clearly assume responsibility for environmentalmanagement.

2

4

A hotel or inn shall determine the environmental laws and regulations
relevant to its business.

25A hotel or an inn shall regularly review its environment management
and implementation results more than once a year to make its future
activities more effective.

26

A hotel or an inn shall regularly conduct employee training on

2

environmental conservation more than once a year.

7

A hotel or an inn shall post its environmental policies or targets inplaces where employees can easily notice them. Or, all employees shallcarry the environmental policies or targets and understand how theyshould act in their duties in accordance with the policies.

2(2) Efforts in each area
8[Food and drink]
A hotel or an inn shall determine its food waste to set concrete targets
and plans to reduce and recycle of food waste.

29[Wastes]
A hotel or an inn shall determine the quantities and types of wastes
such as packing materials and wastes from guestrooms except for foodwaste to set concrete targets and plans for waste reduction andrecycling.

210A hotel or an inn shall explain its waste management policies to waste
disposers and request them to recycle or dispose the waste in an
appropriate manner.

211[Energy/Water]
A hotel or an inn shall assess its own energy consumption including

2

electricity, heavy oil, and gas to set concrete targets and plans to reduce
consumption of those.
12A hotel or an inn shall assess water consumption and drainage water
quality to set concrete targets and plans to reduce the consumption as
well as environmental impacts.

213[Green purchasing]
Having policies for the practice of green purchasing, a hotel or an inn
shall set concrete goals and plans to reduce the purchased amounts andto shift toward purchasing of environmentally friendly products.

2

14[Chemical substances]
Determining the usages of chemical substances including herbicides
and disinfectant as well as detergents, a hotel or an inn shall set
concrete goals and plans to reduce of chemical usage andenvironmental pollution.

2(3) Information disclosure and environmental communication
15[Information disclosure]
A hotel or an inn shall actively disclose and provide information on its
environmental policies and activities in brochures and web sites.

2

16[For guests]
A hotel or an inn shall post its environmental policies and activities
where the guests can easily notice them.

217[For guests]
A hotel or an inn shall have a system to gather feedback on
environmental management system in its facilities from the guests tomake its environmental activities more effective.

218[Environmental services for guests]
A hotel or an inn shall provide programmes on local eco-tour or facility

2inspection tour to learn about its environmental activities.
19[For suppliers]
A hotel or an inn shall explain its environmental policies and activities
to suppliers to obtain their cooperation for purchasing environmentallyfriendly products and services.

2(4) EMS certified by the third party (Open-ended matters)(5) Others (Open-ended)II.
Food- and drink-related environmental consideration
Should a hotel or an inn have a restaurant as a tenant, the restaurant shall be considered forthe answer.
Should a hotel or an inn offers no meals to guests, the text “a hotel or an inn offers no meals”
shall be filled in the following open-ended section.

(1) Reducing and recycling of food waste
No20

Check items
A hotel or an inn shall prevent dead stock through food inventory

Allotment
1management, control food preparation based on the expected numberof guests, and use leftover ingredients effectively in order to reduce
kitchen wastes and leftover food.
21

Kitchen wastes and leftover food shall be recycled as compost, feed,etc.

122

A hotel or an inn shall recover energy from its food waste with thehigher efficiency than that of methane.

123

Kitchen wastes and leftover food shall be dehydrated to reduce weight.

0.5

24

As a result of waste reduction by using disposer, recycling throughcompost and feed, and recovering energy, more than 20% of kitchenwastes and leftover shall be reduced after dehydrated.
More than 20% of food waste generated in the facilities shall bereduced.
More than 80% of food waste generated in the facilities shall bereduced.

12

25

A hotel or an inn shall effectively recycle used cooking oil as fuel or as
raw materials for soap.

126

A hotel or an inn shall encourage suppliers to use returnable boxes todeliver products.

127

A hotel or an inn shall preferably purchase Japanese sake, beer andother sparkling liquor in returnable containers.

128

A hotel or an inn shall try to shift toward returnable containers for drink
and condiments other than mentioned above;
By asking supplier to use returnable containers.

0.5

By using returnable containers.

2

A hotel or an inn shall lighten packages and reduce wrapping ofdisposable containers for food, drink, and condiment.

129(2) Purchase of food30

A hotel or an inn actively purchase organic produce, organic processedfood products, and produce cultivated with little or no usage of
agricultural chemicals and chemical fertilizers.

131

A hotel or an inn shall endeavour to preferentially purchase food fromthe surrounding areas or seasonal ingredients.

132

A hotel or an inn shall endeavour to trace back food growing methods
and places of production.

1(3) Others (Open-ended)
III. Resource efficiency and recycling(1) Room service
No

Check items

Allotment

33

No more than six kinds of disposable amenities shall be provided in aguest room.

134

None of amenities shall be doubly wrapped.

135

A hotel or an inn shall encourage guests to bring their owntoothbrushes and shavers.

136

A hotel or an inn shall replace individual packages of shampoo and1conditioner with those in refillable dispensers or bottles.
37

A hotel or an inn shall use slippers that are non-disposable and used fora long time.

138

A hotel or an inn shall appropriately control the content quantity ofamenities such as disposable soap, shampoo, and conditioner.

139

Bar soap used by guests shall be reused in the backyard and otherplaces or recycled to produce oil and fat.

140

Unused amenities shall be provided to another guest, depending on thecondition.

141

A system asking guests about the necessity of the replacement oftowels shall be introduced.

142

Wastes brought in by guests shall be separated and recycled.

143

Furniture including beds, chairs, and tables in the guest rooms shall berepaired and reformed to be used for a long time.

1(2) Spaces for administration, common use, stores, etc.
44

Various types of paper including copy paper, newspapers, magazines,
and corrugated cardboard shall be separate and recycled.

145

PET bottles, beverage cans, and glass bins shall be separated andrecycled.

146

Fluorescent lamps shall be appropriately separated and treated.

147

Batteries shall be appropriately separated and treated.

148

A hotel or an inn shall encourage its office clerks to use both sides of asheet of paper for copying and other purposes.

149

A hotel or an inn shall carry out simple wrapping in the stores inside its
facilities.

1(3) Water saving
No

Check items

Allotment

50

A hotel or an inn shall use water-saving equipment including packings,
shower heads, and sensors for its toilets, showers, and faucets.

151

A hotel or an inn shall purify and reuse wastewater.

252

A hotel or an inn shall utilize rainwater by installing rainwater tanks andother facilities.

1(4) Others (Open-ended)IV. Efforts to combat climate change(1) Heat source and heat transport
No

Check items

Allotment

53

A hotel or an inn shall introduce devices to use waste heat of boilers,
micro gas turbines, cogeneration systems, fuel batteries, etc. to improveenergy efficiency.

254

A hotel or an inn shall introduce pumps and fans with good efficiency
and pipe insulation to improve heat transport of steam or refrigerant
inside its facilities.

255

A hotel or an inn shall use renewable energy such as solar water
heating systems, photovoltaic generation, wind generation, andgeothermal power.

2(2) Air conditioning
For facilities
56

A hotel or an inn shall endeavour to improve the insulation of its
buildings by adopting double-entry doors, revolving doors, doubleglazed windows, and insulating sashes as well as by greening rooftops
and walls.

257

A hotel or an inn shall set its voluntary standards for the setting of thetemperature in its offices and backyards.

1For guest rooms
58

Air conditioning of each guestroom shall be able to be controlled
independently.

259

A hotel or an inn shall introduce sheer curtains, window shades, fusuma
and shoji doors for its guest rooms.

1

60

Guest rooms shall introduce

1(3) Lighting equipment
61

A hotel or an inn shall replace incandescent light bulbs inside facilities
with compact self-ballasted fluorescent lamps or LED lamps and install
HF inverters or LED luminaires as fluorescent luminaires.
More than 20% of light bulbs and fluorescent luminaires shall be
replaced with compact self-ballasted fluorescent lamps/LED lamps andHF inverters/LED luminaires.
More than 80% of light bulbs and fluorescent luminaires shall be
replaced with compact self-ballasted fluorescent lamps/LED lamps and
HF inverters/LED luminaires.

12

62

A hotel or an inn shall manage its electricity usage in guestrooms whenno guests in the room.
A hotel or an inn shall ask guests to turn off the light whenever theyleave guestrooms.
Electricity usage in guestrooms shall be reduced by key management
when no guest is in the room.

1263

A hotel or an inn shall adopt illuminance sensors, timer function, andmotion sensors to switch on lights only when it is dark.

164

A hotel or an inn shall utilize daylight by devices to bring natural light1

into the building or a lighting control system to turn on/off the light by
the window separately.
(4) Other energy efficiency
65

A hotel or an inn shall proactively maintain machines and devices

0.5

considering energy-saving for their efficient work.
66

A hotel or an inn shall efficiently divide its facilities into sections tocontrol the independent energy consumption of each section.

2(5) CO2 reduction
67

A hotel or an inn shall determine its CO2 emission from energy
consumption of all facilities and compare it with that of reference year
set by itself in order to reduce CO2 emission.

268

A hotel or an inn shall adequately manage commercial air conditioners
and cold storage and refrigeration equipment that use CFC, HCFC, and
HFC as refrigerant according to the Act on Rational Use and Proper
Management of Fluorocarbons.

1(6) Others (Open-ended)
V. Green purchasing, chemical substances, others(1) Green purchasing
No

Check items

Allotment

Consumables
 For products that have been already used under own procurement guidelines,
environmentally friendly products shall account for more than 80%.  1 point
69

Copy paper

170

Toilet paper

171

Tissue paper172

Ballpoint pens

173

Memo pads and envelopes

174

Other office supplies

175

Brochures for facility information

176

Uniforms of employees

1Durables For products that have been already used under own procurement guidelines,
environmentally friendly products shall account for less than 50%.  0.5 point For products that have been already used under own procurement guidelines,
environmentally friendly products shall account for 50% and more.  1 point
77

Automobiles

0.5
178

Office equipment including PC, copiers, and printers

0.5
179

Refrigerators in guestrooms

0.5
180

Air conditioners

0.5
181

TV sets in guestrooms

0.5
182

Office furniture

0.5
183

Furniture, interior, bedclothes, linens, and wallpaper in guestrooms

0.51Suppliers and delivery
84

A hotel or an inn shall ask its suppliers to present and deliverenvironmentally friendly products.

185

A hotel or an inn shall ask its suppliers to implement idling reduction

1and to use low emission vehicles for delivery.
86

A hotel or an inn shall negotiate with suppliers on loading efficiency,delivery time, delivery route, and other matters for efficient delivery.

187

A hotel or an inn shall encourage guests to use public transportation
through a brochure, etc.

1(2) Chemical substances, greening, etc.
88

A hotel or an inn shall reduce the usage of disinfectant, herbicide, andchemical fertilizer and replace them with materials with lessenvironmental impacts.

1

89

A hotel or an inn shall reduce the usage of detergents or replace themwith those with less environmental impacts.

190

A hotel or an inn shall use cleaning agents that contains no volatileorganic compounds (VOC) to clean guestrooms and other places.

191

A hotel or an inn shall recharge groundwater from rainwater by planting
trees in its premises and permeable surfacing of outside parking lots.

192

More than 20% of premises shall be planted with trees or permeably
surfaced.

193

A hotel or an inn shall implement environmental activities such as

2cleaning and conservation of its neighbouring areas or actively
participate in activities organized by local municipality or organizations(and employees shall be encouraged to join such activities).
(3) Others (Open-ended)