6 months down, 12 months to go – time flies when you’re reducing plastic waste! At the beginning of the year we decided to officially join the global fight on single-use plastics by signing up to Mission 2020, (an online platform created by Fourth Element, enabling organisations from the global diving community to pledge to do something for the environment by World Oceans Day, 2020).
Atmosphere’s pledge: At Atmosphere Resorts & Spa, we have already made great strides in limiting our environmental impact. By World Oceans Day 2020, we pledge to have eliminated front of house single-use plastics and will continue to expand our sustainability and awareness raising efforts with our guests, suppliers and local community.
In the last few months our teams around the resort have been identifying problem areas, brainstorming and trialing solutions. Here are a few we’d like to share with you…
Plastic-free coffee
The Philippines is a single-sachet culture, whereby everything from coffee to washing powder and toothpaste can be purchased in individual plastic packets. Therefore one of the first areas we identified was how to offer our guests in-room coffee and milk without the unwanted plastic waste.
We teamed up with a Philippine coffee producer which creates high-grade coffee in individual (paper & cardboard) filter sachets (i’m even sat drinking one right now).
To pour into your coffee, instead of individual plastic sachets of creamer, we now provide guests with small glass bottles of milk, which are refilled upon request.
Guilt-free showers
When it comes to shampoo, shower gels and soaps, rather than using hundreds of individual plastic bottles we buy our quality products in bulk and provide in-room refillable dispensers for all of our bathroom amenities. Unfortunately this means you can’t take them home as gifts for friends and family, but you are helping the planet!
Feathery friends
Here at Atmosphere, we play home to a small flock of cute little sparrows. They’re part of the family, but like any family member they often have some annoying habits – like stealing our food when they think we’re not looking. To solve this one, we have commissioned beautiful & natural bamboo food nets to be made. Once placed over our lunch, they become impenetrable to our feathery friends.
All natural Happy Hour slurping
We are already proud not to have plastic straws within the resort, and soon guests will be able to slurp down that happy hour cocktail through an all-natural bamboo straw whilst doing their bit for the environment!
Plastic is a problem?
Our guests come from all over the world, from different backgrounds and cultures. Our in-house Marine Biologist Kirsty, has been raising awareness of the plastic problem with weekly presentations, which often lead to post-happy hour discussions and sharing of ideas, thoughts and solutions. We also conduct beach cleans every two weeks, involving guests, staff and school children from the One International school. Data is recorded on what we are finding on our beaches, and submitted to the International Coastal Clean Up, run by the Ocean Conservancy.
The whole of the Atmosphere family is committed to our Mission 2020 pledge, through working together to source and implement solutions to the single-use plastic problem. Watch this space over the next 6 months to see what else we can achieve!
