Soap Aid helps Schwartz hotels clean up on sustainability

20/11/2024

Australia’s leading private hotel group has incorporated Soap Aid into its sustainability program for over a decade.

The hotel industry is very vocal about the need for sustainability, but few hotel groups actually follow through on their words.

However, Dr Jerry Schwartz’s hotel group has proven an exception through its commitment to adopting renewable energy, supporting community charities, and managing waste, including being a major contributor to Soap Aid.

Today, the Schwartz Family Company is Australia’s largest privately owned hotel group, with 15 hotels and over 4000 rooms operating in NSW, Queensland, Victoria and the ACT.

The portfolio includes many renowned hotels including Sofitel Sydney Darling Harbour, Fairmont Resort Blue Mountains, Rydges Resort Hunter Valley, Hilton Surfers Paradise, Paradise Resort Gold Coast and Mercure Canberra.

In addition, Dr Schwartz operates an award-winning craft brewery operation, a conference centre, luxe spas and Sydney Seaplanes.

In 2001, Dr Schwartz established the Schwartz Foundation, a registered charity that supports projects in Australia and overseas, including medical research, children’s charities and homelessness services.

He is equally committed to environmental sustainability, establishing two 5MW solar plants on his property adjacent to the Rydges Resort Hunter Valley. The two plants are now producing enough energy to cover the output of all his hotels across NSW and still return additional energy to the grid.

The Schwartz hotels are prominent in being recognised for sustainability best practices, with certification from NABERS and Ecotourism Australia.

Dr Schwartz first became involved with Soap Aid over a decade ago. Back then, most hotels offered guests soap bars, which were barely used by guests, leaving his hotels with the issue of how to dispose of the waste.

His solution was to sign up with Soap Aid to collect the partially used soap. The drivers delivering craft beer from his Sydney Brewery would pick up the soap and return the bars to a central depot at Rydges Sydney World Square. This not only made it easier for Soap Aid to collect the consolidated soap, but it also ensured that no unnecessary fuel was consumed in the exercise.

Covid-19 did alter the amount of soap and other toiletries offered in hotel rooms, with dispensers replacing soap bars in many locations.

However, Sofitel Sydney Darling Harbour still offers guests a generous selection of beautiful soaps, and as a result, 2,815kg of used soap has been collected since the hotel joined up with Soap Aid in 2018.

The scheme’s success is due in large part to Sofitel’s Executive Housekeeper, Karolina Sadalska, who leads this sustainability initiative within the hotel.

“We have been proud partners with Soap Aid for the past six years, with only a brief interruption during the pandemic,” said Karolina. “Over the years, our team has remained deeply committed to promoting sustainability and environmental responsibility. Recycling, sustainability, and other environmental initiatives are integral to our culture and are included in our onboarding process to ensure every team member understands their importance from day one.

“In addition, we host a monthly ‘Wellness Wednesday’ event where we focus on team well-being and highlight one of our key sustainability initiatives. Soap Aid is a key feature of this, and we make sure we recognise their impactful work as part of our ongoing commitment to environmental stewardship.”

Dr Schwartz said it was a “natural” to support an organisation like Soap Aid, and he believed that more hotel groups could introduce sustainability measures to reduce their environmental footprint.

“Hotels need to be holistic in terms of how they operate, and sustainability should be a priority of every hotel operation,” said Dr Schwartz.

“Most hotels use a huge amount of energy and generate a significant amount of waste, but that can be mitigated against.

“Soap Aid is an obvious way of addressing waste while also benefiting the community. I’ve been involved with many overseas medical initiatives, so to know that Soap Aid is potentially saving lives by providing a cleaning aid for children in developing countries is rewarding for myself and the hotel teams.

“The Soap Aid commitment is part of a multifaceted sustainability program that is really making a difference to the way we operate. Installing solar plants in the Hunter Valley and rooftop panels across many of our city properties has made us nearly self-sufficient in energy use, and every time we renovate a hotel, we look at ways of making the property more environmentally sustainable.”

For more information: https://www.schwartz.com.au/