Preserving their precious oceans one toothbrush at a time, Banyan Tree Koh Samui has revealed what is takes to go completely ‘plastic free’. Vision of beloved local marine life ingesting rubbish was a gamechanger for this luxe Thai resort, along with a few sobering statistics.
The catalyst might have been the 213,314 plastic bottles passed out to guests in 2017. Or the 176,880 meters of cling film used to package food products. “One of our staff calculated we could have wrapped this island all the way around three times with all that cling film,” said resort General Manager Remko Kroesen. “We knew we had to make changes.”
Plastic bottles, straws, cutlery and garbage bags have all been phased out. In their place are glass bottles, paper straws, bamboo and wood cutlery, biodegradable bags and containers, and second-hand rice and sugar sacks for the kitchens and garden waste. The resort replaced the 20,158 plastic toothbrushes and bathroom accessories ordered each year with alternatives including corn-based toothbrushes. Finally, they negotiated to return any remaining plastic bags or containers for reuse. Impressive!
These latest initiatives cap off a serious long-term commitment to sustainability by the pioneering resort, including tree-planting, wastewater recycling, and a coral regeneration project.
Keep up the excellent work!
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