When I stayed at a hotel last week for the teaching conference, I really enjoyed my room. One of the first things I noticed was the card placed on the bed. It read that they change the bedding every second day in order to conserve energy. You could hang the card on the door if you wished to have your bedding changed everyday.

They had a similar card in the bathroom about towels. Towels on the floor meant that they were to be washed. Towels on the rack meant that you would still use them and they therefore did not need to be washed.

I thought about all the water and soap that is used in a hotel on a daily basis. They must use a huge amount of electricity as well. I wanted to do something to help the hotel conserve these resources. Here is what I did and some advice on how we can all help cut waste at hotels.

1)Hang up your “Do Not Disturb” sign when you leave the room for the day.

This way the hotel staff will not come into your room at all. I know that I don’t change my bed sheets every second day at home so they don’t need to do that for me at a hotel. I also did not need to have my towels washed daily either.

2) Talk to the cleaning staff

When I came out of my room and placed the sign on my door, a cleaning lady asked if I wanted my room done up at all. I said no, and she asked if she could go in anyway just to punch in a number on the phone so the management would know she still checked the room. Apparently, they get paid by room. I was glad to help her out this way. I just asked her to remove the garbage from the garbage can but to leave everything else be.

3)Keep your room clean yourself

I make up my own bed in the morning. I keep my room clean. I hang up my towels so I can reuse them, just like I would at home. There is no reason that we cannot look after our hotel rooms by ourselves.

4) Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

I reduced the amount of washing the hotel had to do by resuing my bed sheets and towels. I used the recycling can that was in my room to properly dispose of bottles, cans, and newspapers.

5) Every little bit helps

It feels like I did something to help mother earth in my short stay. I know that this is really just a small thing. The hotel still used tones of soap, water, and electricity but I wasn’t contributing to it as much. Every little thing we can do to help the environment helps. We can do a lot of good if we all do just a little.