Technology: A Sustainability Enabler for Hospitality Professionals

There are a few stats in our ongoing Pulse data that have troubled me for quite some time: 70% of people living in America say they feel moderately to very strongly responsible for changing their daily choices to positively impact the environment. 77% say the average person should be taking concrete steps to reduce their environmental impact (though this is down from 90% in 2016). 80% agree that we have a moral duty to leave the earth in as good or better shape than we found it. I’ve been troubled because it’s not what’s actually happening. We don’t see three-fourths of the American population taking steps to reduce their environmental footprint (beyond recycling or wishcycling). Even in our own studies, only 26% of the American population can name a brand they’ve intentionally purchased or not purchased because of the perceived environmental or social record of the manufacturer. And while 26% is a great number — and headed in an upward right trajectory when you look at the data over the last 13 years — it’s still not 70-80%.

The global economy currently follows a linear model, where raw materials are mined, processed into products, consumed and thereafter become waste. Consequently, global consumption of materials such as biomass, fossil fuels, metals and minerals, is expected to double in the next forty years, while annual waste generation is projected to increase by 70% by 2050. The circular economy offers an alternative to the take-make-waste model, by maintaining the value of products, materials and resources in the economy for as long as possible and minimizing the generation of waste. There are countless small startup companies in Iceland that are working within the idea of the circular economy. Our top five picks for circular economy solution startups are the following.