'Green' Quest Achieved

Quest on Dixon Street, Darling Harbour has reduced its annual carbon output by 300 tonnes by simply changing its light globes.

Mark Rondo co-franchisee of Quest on Dixon Darling Harbour, a AAA Tourism 4-STAR rated property, was looking for an inexpensive way to reduce Quest on Dixon Darling Harbour's greenhouse emissions and discovered 'Easy Being Green', which is a company that operates carbon trading schemes to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the commercial and domestic sectors.

"It doesn't cost anything to join and it is a terrific way to access energy-saving light globes at a good price," Mark says.

Before he joined Easy Being Green's program Mark had already changed the towel washing, from daily to every two to three days and installed plaques in bathrooms explaining Quest on Dixon Darling Harbour's environmentally-friendly positioning and asked guests to hang towels up if they didn't want them washed.

"Most guests hang their towels up for a couple of days now and we haven't had a single complaint. I think basically consumers are becoming more environmentally aware," Mark says.

However, water reduction from less washing isn't the only environmental saving, with fewer trucks needed to freight towels to the washhouse it has resulted in less greenhouse gas emissions.

Quest on Dixon Darling Harbour's quest to be environmentally friendly didn't end in the towel department. They then assessed the cleaning chemicals they use and replaced them with a single citrus-based chemical that is biodegradable and food safe, which they use for all cleaning processes from bedrooms to bathrooms and lounges to lobbies.

"A review of guest amenities was next, and now all products are biodegradable with recyclable packaging. On the drawing board now is to devise a way to prompt guests to save the empty shampoo bottles and leave them on the bench-top," Mr Rondo explains.

And while Quest on Dixon Darling Harbour guests are busy washing their hair with biodegradable shampoo from a recyclable bottle they can also rest easy that water flow has been reduced in the showerheads and taps.

"We decided against the costly exercise of swapping all shower heads with water efficient models and instead we decided to install water restrictors in all shower and sink water pipes, which reduced water flow to 9 litres per minute from 16 litres per minute," he says.

As energy companies begin offering customers the ability to add renewable energy to their electricity plans, Quest on Dixon Darling Harbour has also taken up this offer as part of its environmental challenge.

Mark is now exploring with Easy Being Green how the property can become carbon neutral and giving guests the option to pay a small fee per night to have their stay carbon neutral.

Meanwhile, almost 20 Quest properties, including Quest on Dixon Darling Harbour, have earned the AAAT Green STAR accreditation, an initiative of AAA Tourism and Green Globe. The accreditation identifies accommodation properties that employ environmentally friendly practices. If the program is well-received among Quest franchisees, it could become the minimum standard for all Quest properties.