Social Responsibility

WE COMMIT

The Chelsea Hotel, Toronto is committed to operating as a responsible company by integrating environmental and social consideration into our development and day-to-day activities, to contribute to building a better world. Environmental protection is one of our four focus areas in our corporate sustainability programme – CONNECT, as we recognize that our property uses significant amounts of energy, water and other natural resources, as well as generating waste. We endeavour to minimize these impacts on the environment in which we operate. While the hotel will protect the ecological environment in its surroundings, the vision is to become a role model amongst hospitality operators for environmental impact, awareness and reduction. As Canada’s largest hotel with 1,590 rooms and a business operating in a large community in downtown Toronto, there are challenges associated with going “green” - which include our size, location and the age of the building – the hotel is 49 years old this year.

WE ACT

Sustainability elements are integrated into our design and day-to-day operations to ensure our guests are enjoying our essential services in this sustainable living environment.

1. Public Area

• Green Wall in the lobby – the Nedlaw "Aspirated" proto type living wall draws contaminated air through the hydroponic wall by use of the Natural Convection air movement created by the stack pressure of the living wall. Pollutants are broken down by the beneficial microbes associated with the plants. Clean air is returned to the occupied space as forest fresh outdoor air. For more information, visit www.nedlaw.ca
• There is dimmable lighting and sensors in all banquet rooms and restaurants. Exterior lighting and signage are on timers. LED lighting is used in the lobby and CFL lighting in the meeting spaces.
• Over 60% of the boilers are high efficiency.
• The hotel is a 100% smoke-free environment
• There are no hazardous materials kept on the property. Only non-toxic cleaning chemicals are used.
• All four chillers are ozone friendly refrigerant.
• Thermostats in Executive Tower are motion sensored.

2. Guest Rooms

• Low-flow water saving showerheads and low flow toilets have been installed in most of the guestrooms.
• Guest of the Earth program - there is a re-use towel program and sheet change program in all guestrooms.
• LED lighting in all guestrooms and corridors.
• We've phased out plastic water bottles from our guest rooms: We estimate that this change alone will result in a reduction of 4 million fewer bottles feeding into the waste stream annually.
• We've eliminated paper guest receipts at check-in and check-out: Guests will be given the option to have electronic receipts e-mailed to them in place of paper.
• Guest amenities – The hotel bathrooms have implemented shampoo, conditioner, and bodywash dispensers – through Trueterra.

3. Eat, Drinks and Events

• 4 Green Key Meetings Rating – a hotel that has made significant advances towards protecting the environment in relation to their meetings and convention facilities and practices.
• All our stewards have training on the proper use of chemicals to avoid water contamination. We also avoid water contamination by never pouring oil into the drains. We have a company that picks it up and disposes of it properly.
• For the cooking oil recycling, our partner is Wardlaw’s Poultry Farm.https://www.wardlawspoultryfarm.com/– they specialize in recycling waste cooking oil.
• We introduced a daily menu option in banquets which allows our team to utilize a high impact low waste menu for all banquets which provides a great quality menu and lower cost to our guests.
• We introduced organic waste collection in all areas of the hotel from our guests to colleagues.
• Working with our suppliers, we have adjusted our ordering system to ensure that the freshest products are in our fridge, and we keep the bare minimum on-site to avoid food waste in our kitchens.
• Our receiving team and culinary team inspect all items that come into the hotel, and regular communication with our suppliers is maintained to ensure not only quality for our guests but also to encourage waste reduction efforts at the source.
• All of the fresh chicken we purchase for the hotel is 100% Halal. We want to ensure that the fresh chicken we prepare for our guests reaches the largest demographic, and we have one product that meets as many dietary requirements as we can

WE PARTNER

We've have teamed up with various organizations in order to put our sustainability commitment into actions.

1. As part of the Chelsea Hotel, Toronto’s commitment to sustainability and to EarthCheck™ - an internationally recognized program widely used by the travel and tourism industry for the benchmarking and certification of operational practices- the hotel is required to meet the objectives of the past year’s benchmarking, including communications to our stakeholders. In 2023, the hotel achieved the coveted EarthCheck Gold Certification, which recognizes eight consecutive years of commitment to environmental and social responsibility. This places the hotel as a leader in the unique worldwide group of sustainable tourism operators that are certified to the internationally recognized EarthCheck Company Standard.

Click here to view the hotel’s 2023 performance report.

2. Ongoing partnership with Eco Resource Management Inc.

• WASTE is picked up from the 30-yard compactor at the hotel and taken to the Wasteco transfer stations at 150 Orenda Road in Brampton and 6710 Columbus Road in Mississauga. It may be further transported to Covanta, an energy from waste facility, in Niagara Falls, NY.
• ORGANICS (food waste) are picked up by Wasteco and delivered to their facility at 150 Orenda Road in Brampton. Materials are inspected, loaded, and delivered for processing and Biogas capture to Seacliff Energy in Leamington, ON. This is an anaerobic digestion facility, where microorganisms are used to break down materials and produce methane, which is captured and fed back into the grid as either electricity or gas
• CANS, BOTTLES & PLASTICS are collected in totes at the hotel and taken to the Canada Fibres material sorting and recycling facility. This material is then sent on to various recycling locations for reprocessing.
• CARDBOARD is compacted at the hotel and taken to the Cascades sorting facility. The cardboard is sorted, separated, and graded, then sent to various paper mills for processing.

3. Bees

Since 2018, bees have taken up residence on the fourth-floor rooftop of the Chelsea Hotel, Toronto. A partnership between the hotel and Toronto Bee Rescue has been helping to preserve Canada’s bee population, which are responsible for pollinating flowering plants, fruits, and vegetables. Toronto Bee Rescue is an urban beekeeping operation founded by Peter Chorabik and Sarah Allinson. Following in the steps of three previous generations of hobby beekeeping, Peter has turned the family hobby into a family business. Toronto Bee Rescue specializes in the human removal and relocation of established honeybee colonies. Chelsea is home to four bee hives: Wildflower Lodge, Honey Hub, Bee Club Lounge, and the Chelsea Sweet.

Starting in 2021, we began selling 130-gram jars of Chelsea honey at our Market Garden restaurant, with 100% of the proceeds benefiting our charity, the SickKids Foundation. Additionally, Chef Kapoor creatively incorporates Chelsea honey into the 2024 Elm Street Bar & Lounge restaurant menu, including cocktails.

4. Earth Hour and Earth Day commitment

We remain committed to Earth Hour and Earth Day, as well as Loving Earth Month. The following are just some of the initiatives from the past few years:

- Celebrate Earth Hour by turning off non-essential lighting.

- Candlelight dinner at Elm Street Bar & Lounge. On the final day of loving Earth Month (Earth Day), hotel colleagues have assisted the Downtown Yonge BIA with their annual clean-up of the downtown core

5. Luminary Donor – SickKids Foundation (Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto).

For more information about our partnership with SickKids, click here.

6. Supporter of Daily Bread Food Bank

For more information about our contribution, click here.

7. CONNECT

To heighten awareness about the green issues and promote actions that lead toward sustainability, a dedicated “CONNECT” Team meets regularly with the commitment for reporting on the hotel’s environmental performance, mitigation of environmental risks and monitoring environmental and social sustainability programs.

8. Green Key Global

In recognition of the Chelsea Hotel's environmental initiatives, the Hotel Association of Canada (HAC) continues to award the Chelsea Hotel with a 4 (out of 5) Green Key ECOmmodation rating. This program is essentially a measurement and performance tool for improving our environmental performance. The Chelsea has also been awarded a 4 (out of 5) Green Key Meetings Rating, showing the significant advances the hotel has made towards protecting the environment with regards to the meetings and convention facilities and practices.

9. Sun Country Highway

On October 23, 2012, the Chelsea Hotel announced the installation of an Electric Vehicle (EV) Recharging Station. This initiative promotes the adoption of sustainable transportation alternatives. The hotel partnered with Sun Country Highway, a Canadian owned company focused on creating Canada's electric vehicle infrastructure. For more information, visit WWW.SUNCOUNTRYHIGHWAY.CA

For any enquiries or feedback regarding hotel CSR policy and initiatives, please kindly contact the Director of Public Relations.

Social and Sustainability Policy