Green Initiatives

Benjamin West has taken an active role in the launch of the Hospitality Sustainable Purchasing Consortium, along with other hotel industry leaders, lead by MindClick SGM. The idea behind the consortium is that, up until now, no solution has existed to provide owners, brands, project managers and stakeholders with the sustainability performance standards and information needed to evaluate, compare and select sustainable FF&E and OS&E products and suppliers.

In order to start striving towards sustainable FF&E and OS&E products, the Hospitality Sustainable Purchasing Consortium will work together to create a Hospitality Sustainable Purchasing Index (HSPI), a web based industry wide database that will measure and report the sustainable performance of FF&E and OS&E suppliers.In order to create the HSPI, suppliers will complete web-based questionnaires covering the categories of corporate social responsibility and environmental and product sustainability. Upon completion of this survey, suppliers will receive ratings in each of the categories based on their performance. The HSPI will streamline how the industry gathers sustainability data from FF&E and OS&E suppliers, while establishing criteria for sustainable performance.

Owners, brands, project managers and industry participants will then subscribe to HSPI to obtain access to a comprehensive web-based reporting system of the sustainability of suppliers and their products. Results of the FF&E and OS&E suppliers in a given product category will be rated and evaluated to determine the category average and best in class scores, which will then be used by the HSPI subscribers to conduct comparative evaluations.

The goal of the consortium is to provide the industry with a unified approach to greening the global supply chain, beginning with FF&E and OS&E. Up until now, the industry has succeeded in building green buildings but when they are filled with FF&E and OS&E products that are not sustainable, what is the environmental impact? Over the last couple of years there has been a lot of talk about “going green” but the industry as a whole has not gained much traction in defining this movement. The HSPI with take the necessary steps to reduce the FF&E and OS&E carbon footprint and will increase hotel revenue as consumers are searching for meaningful green travel. The HSPI will be the driving force to put the previous efforts of going green into gear.