Traders Hotel, Beijing says it has become one of the first properties in the city to install water-free urinals, saving thousands of liters of fresh water each year.

As an Olympic Partner Hotel, the property says it has placed environment protection on its list of preparations for the Games, and is currently installing the environmentally friendly water-free urinals to all male washrooms in its public areas. The hotel says it spends approximately RMB1 million on "green" products and systems each year, and although no financial gain will be incurred by introducing the urinals, the environmental benefits will be significant.

"Since 2004 our energy and water consumption figures have decreased dramatically. It is our aim for these figures to continue dropping, not only in preparation for the Olympics, but for 2008 and beyond," said the hotel's general manager, Teresa Xin. "We hope that with the installation and implementation of new technologies, such as the water-free urinals, we will encourage other properties to do the same, thus making a significant impact on the city’s energy and water consumption."

A replaceable cartridge installed at the bottom of each urinal is attached to a fitting and connected to a drainpipe, and utilizes an additional sealant liquid to provide an airtight barrier between the urine and the washroom, allowing the urine to penetrate directly through into the drain. Uric sediment accumulated by the cartridge leaves an odor-free environment, clean pipes and no water waste. Each cartridge will save approximately 151,000 liters of water and every 7,000 flushes saves 28,000 liters of water.

Water transportation to or away from the urinal to a water treatment facility is eliminated, resulting in energy savings. In addition, no energy need be used for water treatment, therefore production of carbon dioxide emissions as a by product of its treatment is eliminated. By reducing the load on treatment plants, the system reduces the need for costly water treatment capacity and the incidence of overflow events at treatment facilities.

In addition to the water-free urinals, the 570-room hotel has set aside further funds to tackle the acute water shortage in Beijing. All guestroom toilet tanks have been changed from nine to six liter capacity, automatically saving three liters per flush, and new water saving shower taps have also been installed in all guest rooms decreasing the flow of water from 18 to 14 liters per minute.