LEDs and 60% now Compact Fluorescent (CFLs). While LED bulbs cost more than CFL bulbs initially, Wijayapala repairs LED bulbs himself, so hardly ever has to replace the bulb. Under GSLH guidance, the hotel’s


chefs now adhere to a timetable to minimise the number of times they open fridges and freezers throughout the day, and a new disposable-towel dispenser in the lobby uses less energy and fewer chemicals than laundering cotton towels. Overall, the hotel was able to reduce


electricity usage by 27,235 kWh in 2012 compared to 2011, saving 354,000kg of carbon emissions. Always looking for new ways to minimise waste, the hotel made its own Christmas decorations last year using materials from the garden, instead of buying plastic decorations, and low-flow taps and shower-heads are being rolled out throughout the property. Wijayapala has been meticulously


recording energy and water usage so that he can monitor the hotel’s progress, and has also embraced GSLH’s new online carbon footprint calculating tool. He is clear he has the GSLH


programme to thank for his success. “The big chain hotels have more time


and people to focus on sustainability, but it’s hard for small independent hotels like us. GLSH has made such a difference,” he claims.


Guests stay weeks or months at Barberyn Ayurvedic Beach Resort JETWING SEA, NEGOMBO


As part of Sri Lanka’s largest hotel group – with more than 16 hotels on the island – Jetwing Sea had already implemented several group-wide environmental initiatives prior to the launch of GSLH. But even a hotel with an established


green strategy such as this was able to benefit from having the GSLH experts carry out an assessment in 2010.


The GSLH team made “low-hanging fruit” suggestions: simple, low or no-cost measures that could bring instant savings, such as introducing a colour- coding system in public areas, so staff and guests know which lights should be on at any time of the day. Solar-panels were repositioned so as


to trap more solar energy, and gaps around guestroom doors were filled in to make the air-conditioning more effective.


Dual-flush cisterns and low-flow f recently built a play-centre from local, natural material at Randholee


shower-heads and taps have been installed in guest-rooms and staff have been encouraged to check more carefully for leaking taps and pipes, to minimise water loss. Thanks to the advice of the GSLH team, the hotel was able to save 45,600


Jetwing Sea uses saltwater chlorination instead of bleach


litres of diesel, 90,888 kWh of electricity, 10,950-cubic litres of water and 120 tonnes of carbon emissions in 2011 compared to the previous year, making a financial saving of £11,500. Minimising the use of plastic straws, plastic cutlery and plastic bottles throughout the hotel, and a more comprehensive recycling system, has dramatically reduced the amount of waste created by the hotel. Its success in this area saw Jetwing Sea named “waste management champion” in GSLH’s 2012 awards.


BARBERYN AYURVEDIC BEACH RESORT, WELIGAMA


Guests who abstain from alcohol, caffeine and cold drinks in their quest to regain the body’s natural balance are also likely to be the kind of guests who will support a hotel’s efforts to be greener. That’s certainly what Barberyn


Ayurvedic Beach Resort – where guests stay for two weeks on average, and sometimes several months – has found. “Being close to nature and having


natural balance in the body is the basis of Ayurveda, so caring for the environment underpins our entire vision for the


resort,” explains Geetha Karandawala, a member of the owning family. Guests receiving Ayurvedic treatment


are advised to avoid air-conditioning, and AC accounts for only 10% of energy consumption at this hotel, compared with an industry average of 50%. Karandawala reports that guests are


sensitive to the need to reuse towels, and have generously supported the Sahana Foundation – the charitable arm of the Barberyn group – which has enabled it to build schools, kit out hospital wards and


support a care home for the elderly. The hotel was designed on sustainable principles from the start, constructed on stilts to leave the terrain below undisturbed. A waste-water treatment plant


generates water for the gardens and to fill the ponds, and solar-power heats the water in guest rooms. Recent developments include the addition of a bio-gas unit to create gas energy from food waste, and the planting of roof-top gardens which remove impurities from the air.


The Barberyn group is currently


undertaking an ambitious project to catalogue more than 1,300 different plants and herbs that have Ayurvedic use, to create a searchable online database for the use of all. Barberyn Ayurvedic Beach Resort joined GSLH just eight months ago, and has found the system of recording energy and water usage very helpful. “We’d been doing a lot of work on


CSR long before it became fashionable, but the Switch Asia project has really helped us document and track our environmental performance for the first time,” says Karandawala.


Jetwing Sea belongs to the island’s largest hotel group 06.11.2013 41


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