The Key to Recycling
A printing company has come up with an alternative to those ubiquitous plastic hotel keys: biodegradable, paperboard keys that guests can recycle after their stay. Green Key bills itself as economical, eco-friendly, and sanitary (you’re not getting the same grimy key that’s been used by umpteen guests). So far, parent company The Whitehall Group has sold more than a quarter of a million keys to some 50 hotels.
Those plastic keycards we’re all used to are made with polyvinyl chloride (PVC), which releases a very toxic chemical called dioxin, and PVC is difficult to recycle, according to Greenpeace. Studies have linked dioxin to health problems and more and more reports are surfacing about its harmful effects. Keep your eyes peeled for the year-old invention, it may just be the key to a greener hotel stay.
Photo: courtesy of Cadmus/The Whitehall Group
- Nat Geo Expeditions
