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Meliá Hotels International has announced its partnership in the “Circular Hotels” project run by Tirme. The project aims to help the hotel industry transition towards a circular economy model for waste management and the reintroduction of processed waste into the economic cycle in order to minimise its environmental impact.

Climate change requires immediate adjustments to natural resource management models, and the company responsible for managing the Palma Convention Centre is working on a number of different projects that are helping create a paradigm shift in the hotel industry based around a sustainable growth model.

As part of the “Circular Hotels” project, Palma Convention Centre and the adjoining Meliá Palma Bay Hotel will firstly begin to use new technology to quantify the organic waste they generate in order to be able to reduce it. Secondly, the waste will then be converted to compost and returned to a local agricultural company, Agromallorca, whose agricultural produce will then be purchased by the Convention Centre and hotel within its existing supply chain.

The project also involves actions to raise awareness among employees and customers regarding the correct separation of waste and reduced use of resources, as well as information on the circular origin of their food.

The "Circular Hotels" project is an example of public-private cooperation, with the hotel industry, agricultural companies and waste management bodies coordinating to close the cycle of food production and consumption assisted by local authorities in charge of selective waste collection. This cooperation helps define solutions that boost the environmental sustainability of an economy reliant on tourism, even more so in an island environment which operates with particularly limited resources.

The project also contributes to the fulfilment of 10 of the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly with regard to innovation, sustainable communities, responsible consumption and production, climate action and partnerships to achieve goals.