Odran Lucey, an executive chef at The Rose Hotel in Tralee, is the first person in the world to earn a new certification for Environmental Sustainability Management in Hospitality.
In late 2021, Fifty Shades Greener (FSG) and the Confederation of Tourism & Hospitality (CTH) partnered to establish the first Level 4 (Level 6 in Ireland) certificate in environmental sustainability management in hospitality.
This is the first qualification of its kind to be regulated as an official qualification under the Ofqual educational system.
When Odran attended the program in 2021, he implemented an environmental management system at The Rose Hotel, which included many different techniques to minimize such as: changing all bulbs to LED throughout the hotel, installing sensor lighting, replacing seals in all windows, collaborating with a local garden centre to use discarded coffee, providing training to all employees, forming a green team, and actively monitoring their utilities and CO2 every month.
So far, the hotel has reduced its energy use by 16% and its food waste by 26%.
“When undertaking the FSG programme, while somewhat aware of the environmental issues we face, I was completely unaware to what extent our business was contributing to some of these issues. As the course progressed and we began completing the workbooks, we immediately saw areas where much improvement could be made, from an environmental and financial perspective” Odran explained.
“By embedding environmental sustainability skill sets into our hospitality colleges, we will prepare our youth for the jobs the marketplace will need now and in the future. Most importantly, it will assist with government targets to reach NetZero by 2050,” he added.
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