Sound environmental practices that set Watamu hotel apart

Hotels are facilities where hundreds of people use the same resources at any given time. It is therefore important that such establishments find ways of conserving the resources for posterity.

Nowhere is this more urgent than our coastal areas that host some of the world’s most endangered species. Take the case of Watamu, where nearby beaches are internationally renowned as sea turtle nesting grounds.

Mida Creek, a Unesco Biosphere Reserve, is also in the area. Any irresponsible form of tourism can endanger the fragile ecosystem.

Turtle Bay Beach Club, which won an award for being the only hotel at the Coast with a clear and established environmental policy that addresses conservation and community needs. (PHOTO: PETER MUIRURI/ STANDARD)

Turtle Bay Beach Club was last year feted at the World Responsible Tourist Awards for being the only hotel in the area with a clear and established environmental policy that also addresses conservation and community needs. We look at some of the practices the hotel has adapted.

Facilities of this nature are notorious for the huge quantity of waste generation, both recyclable and non-recyclable. All waste is sorted at the hotel’s recycling facility. All hard plastics, including bathroom toiletry containers, are recycled.

Towels, linen and laundry orders are carried in cloth bags or baskets, rather than in plastic bags to keep off waste that could be associated with this process. Delivery of items into guest rooms is done in non-disposable bags which are re-usable.

Offices and stores

The hotel has adopted double-sided printing while using waste paper for temporary drafts to minimise paper wastage and put to good use the little amount of paper

Purchasing large size packaged goods and with less packaging or with packaging that is already recycled. The hotel uses vendors who supply their products in returnable containers and crates such as bottled beers and soft drinks rather than canned drinks. It also buys locally-produced food and drinks in returnable containers.

It avoids purchasing disposable plates, cups, cutlery, lunch boxes, place mats, aprons and hats that encourage littering.

With the humid conditions experienced at Kenya’s Coastal, food waste would go bad as soon as it is released from the kitchen.

Composting food waste

All the food waste from the hotel is fed into a composter, which breaks down the food remains into compost used by the club for gardening.

The hotel also has a waste water treatment plant which treats 100 per cent of the facility’s waste water. The waste water is collected into a septic tank, which is then pumped into a treatment plant.

Surface run-off is also collected through purpose built drainage systems channelling water to the treatment plant. The recycled water is used for hotel garden’s irrigation as well as flushing the staff toilets.