Did you know it’s National Recycling week?

It’s true, National Recycling Week is celebrated November 12^th through the 18^th. All of us at Hotel Andaluz are big on being as lean and green as possible. Did you know we are the only full-service LEED (Leadership in Environmental and Energy Design) Certified hotel in the country? We do as much as we can to help make our little corner of the world as sustainable as possible. That warm water for your shower is heated by our rooftop solar thermal system. Live plants in the rooms and hotel are watered with captured rain water. And our amenities (shampoo & soap) are fixed in dispensable bottles throughout, so we aren’t tossing miniature plastic bottles everyday!

We enjoy being green so much, we thought it’d be fun to give a shout out to National Recycling Week and share quick tips on how you can join the fun.

We promise, it’s easy.
Water bottles, water bottles, plastic water bottles, we see them everywhere. And while the beverage companies are doing as much as they can to make sure these plastic bottles are friendlier to the planet, we can all do a little more to help out as well. First off, if you have to take a plastic water bottle, make sure and RECYCLE it, there are bins most everywhere. Easy… right?

Next… if you can, purchase an aluminum water bottle! Most fancy bottled water is just tap water from another city. You don’t need a brand new bottle every time you’re feeling parched, do you? If you do, refer to the above mentioned tip. But with a reusable water bottle you can fill it, refill it and refill it and hydrate! If after a while it needs a light cleaning, is it really that big a deal? You wash your wine glasses at home all the time… . And lastly, our favorite tip… when choosing travel accommodations in the Albuquerque area please choose Hotel Andaluz, we’ll do most of the green things for you.

We told you these tips were easy. You can reduce your waste, and save a little $$$ too. Until next week Andaluz fans… Happy National Recycling Week!

One of the elements that makes our hotel so green is mostly hidden from view, unless you’re lucky enough to get a behind-the-scenes tour of the hotel.  Although not visible from the street, we have a 73-panel solar thermal system tucked away on the roof. This system generates about 60% of our domestic hot water, which is used in guest rooms, laundry facilities and in the kitchens. In essence, the hotel developed a system whereby the heat from the solar panels is transferred to a 4,000-gallon tank, which is situated on the 10^th floor and is original to the old hotel.

How’s that for environmentally proactive? To learn about some of the other cool stuff happening in our green initiatives, check this out.