Sustainability: back to the tap
Some time ago a press release titled ‘Painting Sri Lankan Hotels Green’ announced the introduction of the ‘Green Accreditation Scheme’ by Sri Lanka Tourism. The scheme was designed to encourage energy saving, discourage excessive use of water and resources and implement waste management in hotels. The newspaper article went on to state that the objective was to reduce energy and water consumption and waste generation at least by an average 20%, and that had 254 hotels participated in the various seminars conducted islandwide. In all, 177 hotels signed up for the programme, while a total of 203 Engineers/Technical staff from 157 hotels received training.
What is unclear is how 20% was determined as the average goal? One presumes some work was done in this regard and that this figure was determined as achievable. No doubt an average 20% reduction will yield a significant cost saving. Be that as it may, the intention of implementing interventions for resource conservation and a focused move towards sustainability practices as espoused by the Director of Switch Asia was indeed laudable. Equally interesting was the observation made by the MD/CEO of CCC solutions, which was carried in the same article, where he stated “We have a challenge because hotels are today very busy making money that some do not take into consideration such aspects as discussed in the project”. How true. The majority of hotels today are in a frenzy to make money any-which-way.
Up until around the turn of the 21st Century, almost all restaurants in Colombo, as with the rest in the country served filtered or cooled down boiled water off a water jug. Water was served free of charge. But with the advent of water in plastic bottles and due to its commercial success story, every restaurant, especially those in hotels and in the city, swiftly shifted towards bringing bottled water to the table. I am aware of a 5-star city hotel that bottled treated tap water under licence and sold each bottle at a whopping 500% profit margin. A further 29% or so is added as government tax and service charge – all for something nature provides us virtually free! Mind you, one could turn on a tap almost anywhere in America (in several other countries too), and you’ll get clean, safe drinking water – a minor miracle on much of the planet.
But the phenomenal growth in bottled water isn’t just draining our wallets – it’s also putting stress on the environment. It takes oil to make plastic in all those bottles. Very few, if any of these plastic bottles are recycled, leaving mountains of empty plastic bottles clogging landfills. Worst of all, the migration to bottled water fosters a perception that tap water isn’t necessary. That’s dangerous at a time when Colombo’s aging public water systems need investment and major improvement. We are encouraging an entire generation to grow up thinking they have to get their water of a plastic bottle.
Way back in 2007, in Manhattan, these concerns fuelled a backlash against bottled water. So much so, that many top flight restaurants that would never have dreamt of serving water off the tap, ditched the bottles. Some of these restaurants where entrees cost between $ 20-45, simply stopped serving water from the bottle as they genuinely felt the need to avoid adding environmental cost. It was an ethical stand against making money at any cost! Most of these restaurants now serve diners its kitchen purified tap water, sparkling and still. As part of its ‘Meet with Purpose’ programme, Hilton will remove plastic bottles from meetings and events in its hotels. The commitment will remove more than 20 million plastic bottles annually.
Will any hotel or restaurant in Sri Lanka dare to demonstrate a similar responsible and sustainable practice? Could discouraging the rampant promotion of bottled water by hotels come under the scrutiny of the ‘Green Accreditation Scheme’ or would it make those in the business of making money off bottled water feel ambushed? Or do we do nothing and just leave it on the table?
Shafeek Wahab – Editor, Hospitality Sri Lanka
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