Environmental Performance
Measuring Environmental Performance
It is a well-known environmental mantra that you cannot conserve what you cannot measure. While many companies claim to institute waste-reduction or pollution prevention strategies, few companies diligently evaluate their environmental performance to determine if systems are actually producing effective results.
Xanterra tracks its environmental performance through its computerized Ecometrix tracking system. This system monitors:
- consumption of electricity, natural gas, gasoline, diesel,
propane, fuel oil and water - generation of renewable energy
- generation of solid waste
- recycled materials, waste diverted from landfills,
hazardous waste, and recycled hazardous waste - sustainable cuisine
- greenhouse gas emissions, compliance violations,
pollution prevention, and Clean Air Act Criteria Air
Pollutant emissions.
Xanterra’s hazardous waste tracking also includes Universal Wastes such as batteries, electronics, fluorescent lamps, mercury switches and PCB-containing ballasts.
These indicators represent what we have defined as the company’s total environmental footprint. Tracking usage of these key items allows the company to analyze trends, stay compliant, reduce liabilities, and move further toward sustainability.
Data Analyses Uses Two Methodologies
From 2000 to 2006, Xanterra collected the data on the annual total amount of resources consumed, waste generated, and associated emissions in operations. This includes energy and fossil fuels, such as coal from electricity consumption at offsite power plants, as well as natural gas, propane, fuel oil, gasoline and diesel fuel used on site in operations. It includes the amount of solid waste generated and recycled, along with waste diversion rates. The company’s Ecometrix also includes sustainable food products purchased and sold.
Xanterra then calculates the resulting greenhouse gas emissions (carbon dioxide, CO2) and select EPA Clean Air Act-designated criteria air pollutants including sulfur dioxide (SO2), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), particulate matter at least ten microns in size (PM10), volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and carbon monoxide (CO).
Normalization: Resource Consumption per Unit of Product
Next, Xanterra normalizes the raw data by either annual revenue (total revenue per year) or room nights (total rooms occupied in one year) to develop a metric that best defines overall environmental impact per unit of product (touristrelated goods and services, which include rooms, restaurants, retail, transportation, support facilities). Xanterra recognizes that this performance metric is not a perfect performance indicator, since many factors determine the level of resource consumption. Nevertheless, it has proven to be the most accurate indicator identified.
*Minor fluctuations in data from Xanterra’s 2005 Sustainability Report are attributed to improved tracking methodologies and updates in industry-accepted emission conversion factors.