Waste separation is required by law and involves many rules that most people take for granted in their daily lives. However, as a host, you cannot assume that all your guests are equally familiar with the holiday destination's waste separation system. Besides, your holiday home guests are in a holiday mood at best – and therefore probably don't want to spend too much time familiarising themselves with the local rules waste separation. To avoid incurring additional costs due to incorrect or missing waste separation in your holiday home, you should make it as easy as possible for your guests to separate their waste.
Tips to make it easier for your guests to separate their waste
First and foremost, it is important to provide sufficient rubbish bins for each category of rubbish. The containers should be large enough and labelled with colours and/or symbols so that each container can be clearly assigned to the respective rubbish category. Also remember to provide enough bin liners for the duration of your stay.
A strategically placed leaflet on waste separation helps your guests to separate their waste without much effort. It should explain briefly and concisely which types of waste need to be disposed of in which bin. Ideally, you should place the information sheet directly above the rubbish bins. It may be useful to provide the information sheet in several languages, depending on the countries from which the majority of your guests come.
In addition to the actual rules of waste separation, you should make it clear whether guests have to dispose of their rubbish during and especially at the end of their stay or whether you, as the host, will take care of it. If there are public locations for waste disposal – for example within a holiday resort – you should use a site plan to make it clear where these are.
The topic of waste disposal should already be addressed and clarified around the check-in or check-out process. If you provide your guests with a guest directory, this is ideal for preparing all the relevant information for your guests about waste disposal, in addition to the information sheet on waste separation. You should also include the topic in the house rules.
Your guest directory is also the ideal place to store further information and special rules – for example, deposit systems, public rubbish bins and collection points for hazardous waste in the area or specific pick-up days.
