ng stress from drought conditions and by replacing nutrients in the soil. It is expected that the trees will grow more uniformly through having a steady water supply. This is peculiar to our volcanic ash soil. We treat the sewage from the local town through our effluent treatment plant and that benefits the community and gives us nutrients, thereby reducing impact on the environment. It also saves us having to add nutrients to our treatment plant with a consequential cost saving. ISO 14001 just documented the procedures we already had in place, so on its own it is not responsible for any savings. In the future however, it may result in considerable savings by reducing the cost of obtaining discharge permits and enabling the company to obtain longer term permits. It may also reduce the costs of obtaining permits because there could be less opposition to any permit sought and hence less legal procedures to be pursued. These cost savings are seen as being quite large long term.. The guiding principle of Welcomgroup are Reduce, Reuse and Recycle. ITC recognises its responsibilities towards maintaining a greener and a healthier environment. In this regard, WelcomEnviron , a multifaceted environment programme was started in order to propagate environmental causes in the cities where Welcomgroups hotels are located. Each hotel has its own programme, encompassing local participation, creating awareness among employees and internal conservation through energy-saving gadgets and environment-friendly materials. In fact, New Delhis Maurya Sheraton was the first hotel to use landscaping as an element of environment deisgn, install solar heating and take measures to conserve and recycle water. While faucets and taps are automatic, hotel guests too are encouraged to save water and power whenever possible. It was the first hotel in the country to install an effluent treatment plant through which waste water is treated and used for the hotel gardens. In...
