Transforming Hospitality: The Global Shift Toward Circular Waste Management

Intercontinental Phuket Resort's "Proud Kamala" green-cleaning project. Photo by Intercontinental Phuket Resort

June 7, 2025  •  KHLOE LIM

      In the face of a prevalent, consumer-driven, linear economy, circular solutions have undoubtedly altered the landscape of how waste management is conducted in several industries, especially in hotel operations. Despite its scarce application worldwide, its benefits remain ever present. It is known to lessen waste, boost employment, and strengthen supply chains, thereby presenting itself as an environmentally and economically attractive option (World Circular Economy Forum, 2025). The same is true in the context of the hospitality industry. By reducing waste and using energy  revenue due to reduced waste and proper energy usage, improved brand image, and a stronger sense of rapport with the customers as only a few of its advantages (Hotel Management Network, 2024). 

In light of these innovations, several initiatives across the globe have been launched in furtherance of circularity in the hospitality industry. In Spain, Barcelona’s CIRC-HOTEL is a project created by the EMAS Club with the aim of bolstering sustainability and circularity in the hotel industry. By carefully surveying processes ranging from kitchen practices to purchasing decisions, hotels are able to substitute unsustainable procedures in place of greener, more efficient options (European Commission, 2023). 

In Thailand, the Phuket Hotel Association is a group composed of 75 hotels dedicated to transforming the city into a sustainable tourism destination. In partnership with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the Coordinating Body on the Seas of East Asia (COBSEA), the association was also known to have spearheaded the Phuket Hotels for Islands Sustaining Tourism (PHIST) in 2019, marking it as the largest tourism-centered sustainability movement within Asia (SEA circular Project, 2020).