Benchmarking Waste Disposal in the Egyptian Hotel Industry

Abstract

The growing environmental awareness among tourists, governments and other bodies, the sustainability of resources, waste management and the greening of hotels have resulted in waste becoming a critical issue for the industry. Waste disposal and its regulation are both important and complex in Egypt and as a result the Law 4/1994 for the Protection of the Environment was enforced. This study aimed to investigate the weight of solid waste produced by five star hotels in Cairo and to identify whether this weight complies with international standard benchmarks. Questionnaires were distributed to hotel executives responsible for monitoring waste management programmes. It was found that since 1994 hotels have started some successful waste management practices. However the weight of the waste produced by a number of hotels still exceeds the international benchmarks. A recommendation is that existing legislation needs to be amended to further both environmental and waste management practices.