Las Vegas has a reputation as a city of excess. But there is one thing that ties us all together, from high rollers to average Joes: our responsibility to preserve our environment. Here at Caesars Palace, we’ve taken extraordinary steps to reduce our impact on the earth, and we wanted to share them with you.

Most recently, we’ve partnered with the Public Education Foundation to create the Reuse Teacher’s Exchange Program, so that conference and convention attendees can put unused pens, pads of paper, canvas bags and other items into the hands of schoolteachers.

We have also been recognized by Travelife magazine as well as by Caesars Entertainment’s companywide Code Green program for our industry-leading efforts.

Since Las Vegas is in its worst drought on record, water conservation is a high priority. We’ve replaced our standard shower heads with adjustable Moen fixtures, after getting rave reviews of them from our guests. We’ve also replaced 28,800 feet of the resort’s grounds with “zeroscaping,” incorporating drought-tolerant plants in raised planter beds. These two projects save 59 million gallons of water annually, enough to fill 98 Olympic size pools. In 2009, we reduced our water consumption by over 100 million gallons in spite of a 1.5 million sq. ft. expansion.

We’ve also replaced over 130,000 lights with more energy-efficient bulbs. You’ll find them in our guest rooms, on the casino floor, in the convention area and on our exterior. In 2008, we conserved over 39,000 BTUs of natural gas and 14 million KwH of electricity. In fact, we kept our electrical consumption steady despite adding 1.5 million sq. ft. to the resort. We also participated in Earth Hour once more in 2010, joining with other Las Vegas casinos and over 4,000 cities in 100 countries to “go dark” for an hour, demonstrating our commitment to finding climate change solutions.

We use water stations instead of pitchers or bottles, saving plastic and reducing the use of cleaning chemicals. We also use biodegradable coffee cups and stir sticks. Even our restaurants are getting in on the act, participating in a property-wide cork recycling program that has recycled nearly 10,000 corks thus far.

Our recycling efforts keep getting stronger. Compared to 2008, we doubled our aluminum recycling and increased our paper recycling by almost a third. Also, we doubled our 2008 totals in recycling food waste and increased our glass recycling nearly tenfold. We also give guests the option to reuse or replace their towels, as well as changing linens on request. Our employees are even going green, choosing electronic pay stubs instead of paper checks and participating in Farmer’s Markets featuring organic vegetables and fruit.

Our recycling efforts have made an impact – in 2009, we recycled 99,650 pounds of plastic. Our fryer grease and oil has been recycled into 162,000 gallons of biodiesel fuel. Even our Total Rewards® cards get recycled – 20,000 of them in 2008, to be precise.

And at Qua® Baths & Spa, care for the world we live in is paramount. Qua recycles all plastic and paper, uses biodegradable beverage cups, and focuses on products that are organic, hypoallergenic and packaged in biodegradable material.

For its entire 40-plus-year history, Caesars Palace has always looked forward, and it’s no different on this issue.

We hope that you will join with us as we increase our efforts to protect our fragile planet.