Zero-Waste Management in Hospitality Accommodations in Aklan, Philippines: Practices, Challenges, and Strategies
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Abstract
The growing demand for sustainable tourism has intensified the need for hospitality accommodations to adopt zero-waste management practices that reduce environmental impacts while maintaining operational efficiency. Despite increasing sustainability initiatives, empirical evidence on the implementation, challenges, and effectiveness of zero-waste management in local hospitality settings remains limited. This study assessed the extent of implementation of zero-waste management practices, the challenges encountered, and the effectiveness of zero-waste management strategies among hospitality accommodations in Aklan, Philippines. It also examined differences across respondents’ demographic profiles, determined the relationships among the study variables, and developed an Evidence-Based Sustainable Zero-Waste Management Intervention Plan. A descriptive-correlational research design was employed involving 170 respondents from hospitality accommodations in Aklan. Data were collected using a validated researcher-developed questionnaire and analyzed using frequency, percentage, mean, standard deviation, independent samples t-test, one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA), and Pearson product-moment correlation. The findings revealed a very high extent of implementation of zero-waste management practices in waste segregation, plastic reduction, food waste management, green purchasing, and guest involvement. Similarly, zero-waste management strategies were perceived as very highly effective in staff orientation and training, use of eco-friendly products, guest awareness and education, local partnerships, and monitoring and evaluation. Despite these positive outcomes, respondents reported very high challenges related to infrastructure limitations, staff awareness, guest compliance, the cost of eco-friendly alternatives, and local government support. Significant differences were found in the effectiveness of zero-waste management strategies when respondents were grouped according to civil status (p = 0.030) and in the level of challenges encountered when grouped according to highest educational attainment (p = 0.017). A strong positive relationship was found between the extent of implementation and strategy effectiveness (r = 0.795, p = 0.001), while challenges encountered had a weak but significant relationship with strategy effectiveness (r = 0.233, p = 0.002). The study concludes that hospitality accommodations in Aklan have substantially integrated zero-waste management into their operations; however, sustaining these initiatives requires addressing persistent operational, financial, behavioral, and institutional constraints. The proposed intervention plan provides an evidence-based framework for strengthening environmental stewardship, organizational sustainability, and the long-term competitiveness of hospitality accommodations and sustainable tourism destinations. The study also supports the Sustainable Development Goals, particularly SDG 12, SDG 13, SDG 14, and SDG 17, by promoting responsible resource management, environmental protection, and collaborative sustainability initiatives within the hospitality sector
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