menu
menu
The Keio Plaza Hotel aims to be a clean, ecological hotel for the 21st century and we have been engaging in various ecological initiatives, starting with the establishment of our Waste Disposal Supervisory Committee in 1991. These ecological initiatives cover a wide range of areas, from making improvements by raising awareness among employees to investing in facilities as necessary, and we have a track record of reducing our environmental impact by responding to laws and regulations and advancing energy-saving technologies. These efforts include establishing a new waste disposal center and initiatives regarding the amenities we provide in our rooms. In recent years, there has been significant change in global awareness regarding the environment. Going forward, in addition to implementing social contribution initiatives, we also want to work together with our customers to further advance environmental conservation. We would like to introduce some of the ecological activities being carried out by the Keio Plaza Hotel as follows.
The luscious and magnificent greenery, consisting of a variety of trees, can be enjoyed from the large ceiling-to-floor panorama windows designed and planted in 1971, by the self-proclaimed “Outdoor Space Creator,” landscape guru, Koki Fukaya. The Greenery at Jurin was selected as part of “Shinjuku’s 30 Greenery Selection.” In the garden, there is a natural stone promenade, and deciduous trees such as East Asian oak trees, Japanese elm trees, Japanese maple trees, which produce comforting sounds of nature as the wind sways their leaves. Keio Plaza Hotel is supporting the creation of a “green curtain” by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Bureau of the Environment.
The Shinjuku-Shintoshin area where the Keio Plaza Hotel is built used to be the location of a water purification facility. Before the area was filled with skyscrapers, the Yodobashi Purification Plant supported the lives of Tokyo residents for 67 years up to 1965. Currently, the third basement floor of the Keio Plaza Hotel houses a waste-water recycling plant that takes in about 100 tons of kitchen waste-water per day and purifies it using biological methods. This water is then reused within the hotel for flushing toilets and other tasks. In this way, we are continuing the area’s water purification legacy into the present day.
The hotel produces about 5.6 tons of garbage per day. This is equivalent to the garbage produced by 1,600 regular households. This garbage is carefully sorted to separate recyclable materials such as magazines, PET bottles cans, and glass bottles and jars, which are then picked up by specialist disposal businesses.
Plant-derived oils used in cooking are recycled and turned into soap, which is then used in all hand-wash stations in the hotel’s backyard and some of the customer toilets. In addition to reducing waste, we are also striving to establish reuse cycles by purchasing soap made from waste food oil.
When the hotel first opened, the Keio Plaza Hotel’s windows were designed based on the concept of “windows that enable the guests to enjoy a view as beautiful as a painting,” so they were made fairly big compared to usual hotel standards. As a result, the windows of the rooms on the west side of the hotel tend to get hot when the sun is in the west. Therefore, in 2003 we attached UV-ray blocking film to the windows of all rooms on the west side of the hotel to prevent them from getting too hot. This also led to energy savings, as the rooms are more efficient to cool. Naturally guests can still enjoy the same wonderful view.
Guests who are staying consecutive nights can use a card to show they do not need their towels and sheets changing and then use the same ones the next day. Previously, these were changed every day when the room was cleaned. However, at the request of guests we trialed this initiative in some of our guest rooms, and as many of our guests agreed with the idea, we have now extended it to cover all rooms.
