Name: Cecile Epperson
Title: Director of Wellness and Sustainability
Hotel: The New York Palace Hotel
Years with hotel: 14
My primary responsibilities: “They center on corporate responsibility, environmental responsibility, community engagement, and ensuring the health and safety of our employees as part of our ‘We Care’ philosophy.”
Hotel’s most significant environment-related accomplishment so far: “I am proud to say we are participating in the Clean the World soap and shampoo recycling program.”
Organization’s most significant environment-related challenge: “We would love to have a towel and linen reuse program but it is a challenge because The New York Palace is a five diamond property.”
What I enjoy most about what I do: “I am the first one at this hotel to have this position. They gave me the freedom to structure the job. I am learning so much as I go along. It is a wonderful combination of things.”
NEW YORK—Having grown up in Holland, a place Cecile Epperson describes as a leader in environmental awareness, she has always been mindful of recycling and energy and water conservation. “It is a way of life there,” she says. “We bicycled everywhere.” As director of wellness and sustainability at The New York Palace Hotel, one of the world’s finest hotels, Epperson gets to share her enthusiasm for environmental responsibility with 1,000 employees from more than 85 different countries.
Epperson has had her title since October 2009. She previously worked in other departments at the hotel, including housekeeping and purchasing. She has approximately 20 years of lodging industry experience, 14 of which has been at The New York Palace Hotel.
In her relatively new role, Epperson is responsible for overseeing programs related to corporate and environmental responsibility, employee health and wellness, as well as safety. Epperson ensures that the hotel’s approach aligns with that of the Dorchester Collection, of which it is a member. In its statement on corporate responsibility, the Dorchester Collection states, “We will act in a manner founded on fair treatment of our people, responsiveness to the needs of our guests, environmental responsibility, ethical business practice, and by making a positive contribution to local communities.”
Zero Waste to Landfill
One of Epperson’s biggest accomplishments so far is helping to oversee the hotel’s reduction in waste. She says the hotel currently sends no garbage to a landfill. A “Reduce Waste” team ensures that as much as possible is recycled—cans, glass, cardboard and paper. A new bailer crunches the cardboard and paper. Non-recyclables are compacted and taken by a sanitation company. It is later burned in a waste-to-energy plant to generate electricity. By the end of the year, Epperson says the hotel should have a food waste decomposition machine on-site to reduce food waste volume.
The New York Palace is the first hotel in the New York Metropolitan area to join the Clean the World program. Whitney Hoover, an independent sustainability consultant, and Epperson met Peter Insalaco of Clean the World at the GoGreen Expo in March.
“Once we learned that we would not only help prevent tons of waste but also contribute life-saving tools, we were eager to be the first to implement the recycling program in New York,” says Epperson. “It’s an obvious solution with dual impact.”
The gently-used and discarded amenities from the hotel’s 813 rooms and 86 suites are shipped to the Clean the World Recycling Operations Center in Orlando. After a sanitization process, the soap is provided to homeless shelters and impoverished people around the world, where hygiene tools are crucial in the prevention of diseases such as acute respiratory infection and diarrheal disease.
Training, Technology Help Save Energy
To reduce energy consumption in the hotel, employees are trained to turn lights and computers off when they are not needed. Occupancy sensors in back-of-house areas also keep lights off. Variable frequency drives, compact fluorescents, on-demand hot water heaters, and a heat exchanger to pre-heat hot water also contribute to energy savings. The owners of the hotel plan to invest $1.7 million in a new highly efficient cooling tower.
“We have a green team that meets weekly and a green committee that includes managers that meets monthly,” Epperson says.
As part of her wellness responsibilities, Epperson helps organize workshops for employees. One recent one focused on smoking cessation. Cultural days are held to celebrate hotel employees’ diversity. These events include foods from the many countries represented at the hotel. A health fair is planned for October. Epperson also meets with potential green vendors and coordinates community engagement projects.
“We are looking at having some additional workshops for our employees,” she says.
Epperson says green is becoming more important as the hotel’s group clients increasingly ask about it as part of the query and booking process.
Whether catering to business clientele or helping employees, Epperson says she always keeps the hotel’s “We Care” approach in mind.
Go to The New York Palace Hotel.
