SEEING BEAUTY AND VALUE IN WASTE
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Soneva’s vision is inspired by nature’s magnitude, mystery and enchanting beauty. We work hand in hand with the environment to craft beautiful, beyond bespoke experiences where discovery is a way of life. At Soneva, we believe that a business must exist for a greater purpose than just shareholder return. We have created a Waste-to-Wealth concept that sees value and beauty where other views as waste. Through small tweaks in our business model we are able to deliver a desirable resort experience and yet have net positive total impact on society and the environment.
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SEEING BEAUTY AND VALUE IN WASTE
- 1. Arnfinn Oines Social & Environmental Conscience, Soneva Secretary, Soneva Foundation
- 6. Eco Centro Waste to Wealth 80% of waste is recycled USD 250,000 in value per year
- 12. 1.2 million plastic bottles saved 750,000 people given access to safe water
- 14. Environmental Fund USD 6.2 million
- 16. Over 4 million people die from household air pollution 12,178 stoves distributed 315 vendors trained 56,018 people reached US$ 811,000 invested US$ 9 million in social value generated
Editor's Notes
- SLOW LIFE – unique corporate culture Since its inception in early 1990’s our founders Sonu and Eva, hence the name Soneva, has emphasised responsible business practices as the right business model. Although we are traditionally seen as a resort / hospitality / tourism company we view more in the way of creating lifestyle experience with wellness and sustainable aspects. Soneva’s core purpose is To Create Innovative and Enlightening SLOW LIFE. SLOW LIFE is our guiding philosophy (Sustainable-Local-Organic-Wellness Learning-Inspiring-Fun-Experience). We believe there is no contradiction between luxury and sustainability and that combining the height of luxury with the height of sustainability brings the best out of the hospitality experience.
- Soneva Fushi, Maldives
- Soneva Fushi, Maldives
- Soneva Jani, Maldives
- Eco Centro Waste to Wealth In total, 80% of our waste is recycled through the state-of-the-art Eco Centro Waste-to-Wealth programme, up from only 27% compared to the 2008-09 baseline. A 100% of food waste is composted and the fertile soil produced is reused in our vegetable gardens. Our waste handling and vegetable production generated US$265,000 in value in 2015-16 (July-June).
- Eco Centro Waste to Wealth Humans are very good at wasting energy, resources and food, and excessive lifestyles have a massive negative impact on the environment. With careful management, waste can be seen as a resource rather than as just waste. With that view in mind, Soneva uses the concept of Waste-to-Wealth to work towards a zero waste goal. The Eco Centro Waste-to-Wealth programme is an example of just how comprehensive and effective waste management can be. Designed on permaculture principles, we have developed a complex waste recycling centre using a variety of old and new technologies to maximise site efficiency.
- Vegetable Gardens 7,500 m2 of land is set aside for vegetable gardens where we follow organic principles to grow 20,000 kgs of produce per year of a value of USD 60,000. Thus, despite being situated in the Maldives, far from good quality agricultural land, we regularly received guest comments praising Soneva Fushi’s rocket salad as tasting far better than top city restaurants!
- Vegetable Gardens 7,500 m2 of land is set aside for vegetable gardens where we follow organic principles to grow 20,000 kgs of produce per year of a value of USD 60,000. Thus, despite being situated in the Maldives, far from good quality agricultural land, we regularly received guest comments praising Soneva Fushi’s rocket salad as tasting far better than top city restaurants!
- The Soneva Glass Studio The low cost of glass can make recycling it uneconomic; often the cost of transport is far more than the glass is worth. For this reason Soneva Fushi had to find new ways of reusing our glass waste. We initially crushed the glass and used it as aggregate in cement. This gave us good savings, but with the concept of Waste-to-Wealth in mind, we were looking to achieve more. The Soneva Glass Studio takes our Eco Centro concept to the logical next step – creating not just wealth from waste but also beauty. ’So Glassycle’ opened at Soneva Fushi in late 2015 where guests can watch world-renowned glass artists create objects of art from waste glass materials and to learn the art of glass blowing themselves. Only waste glass produced from resorts in the local area is used at the facility. We expect with the addition of the Soneva Glass Studio that we will be able increase the value generated from waste handling.
- Soneva Drinking Water We have banned imported water since 2008 and instead our resorts serve their own locally produced Soneva Drinking Water – still or sparkling. This was a groundbreaking initiative when implemented in 2008 recognising the considerable and unnecessary CO2 emissions resulting from the shipping of drinking water great distances, often by air. The practice is starting to become more common in the hospitality industry, though, the majority of companies do not follow this practice. Banning imported water and producing it own Soneva Drinking Water improved the bottom line for our resorts as costs per bottle went considerably down. Given the global water challenge - 760 million people lack access to safe drinking water, 2.5 billion people lack access to basic sanitation services and four children die every minute from water- borne diseases - we did not want to keep all the benefit to ourselves. As a consequence, we have donated a significant proportion of water revenue through the Soneva Foundation to help over 600,000 people access safe water in 53 countries world-wide. We achieved this between 2008 and 2013 working with implementation partners such as Water Charity and Thirst-Aid. Additionally, the Soneva Foundation has provided development funding to establish the WHOLE WORLD Water campaign, which aims to bring the entire hospitality industry together to address global water challenges. The WHOLE WORLD Water campaign extends Soneva’s concept of bottling your own water out to the travel and tourism industry, with 10% of sales revenues invested in clean and safe drinking water initiatives around the world. The scale of ambition for the WHOLE WORLD Water is dizzying – we estimate that if the entire travel and tourism industry united around this single issue, we could raise US$ 1 billion annually. Between 2013 to 2015 the campaign has given 32,000 people access to safe water.
- Total Impact Assessment A company’s performance should be assessed as its total contribution to society. Such societal contributions are traditionally measured in terms of the goods and services that companies provide, and the resulting returns they earn in order to compensate capital for its risk. What is often missing is any gauge of the total impact that such activities have on the natural world and on the communities in which they operate and in many cases the communities in which the goods and services are consumed. In an effort to measure the total impact the company has on the natural world and on the communities in which it operates, Soneva has developed a Total Impact Assessment (TIA) of the company as a whole. It is the first time an evaluation of this magnitude has ever been commissioned in the hospitality industry. Recognising that a company’s performance should be assessed as its total contribution to society, Soneva commissioned the TIA to provide a holistic view of the environmental, human, social, economic and fiscal dimensions of the business. It measures the impact in five categories – Natural Capital, Human Capital, Social Capital, Economic Capital and Tax – and allows the company to quantify and monetise it in a language that translates to standard business performance metrics. The TIA allows us to take a ‘planetary boundaries’ view of all its social and environmental impacts. Thais includes direct impacts at its resorts and indirect impacts via our supply chain and guest air travel. Measuring the impacts provides the company with a tool to drive better decision making, more effective resource allocation and to influence the business decisions of its suppliers. The TIA aims to go further than traditional sustainability reporting by assessing both the impact of the company’s direct activities and also that of its supply chain. Metrics categorised by land use, water consumption, energy consumption and CO2 emissions are used to measure the true cost of the ecosystem services provided to the food and beverage products utilised at the resorts. Soneva developed a methodology for an Environmental Profit and Loss (EP&L), or supply chain impacts, which together with the resort and guest travel emissions makes up the natural capital segment of the evaluation. Natural capital is effectively offset against the company’s positive impacts through human and social capital and economic and tax contributions to provide the total impact. Soneva’s total impact in their fiscal year 2015-16 (July-June) was a positive US$ 34 million. The figure includes a deficit of US$ 10 million in natural capital of which 93% was via its supply chain. US$ 11 million was generated through human capital, US$ 4.4 million in social capital and US$ 26 million in economic capital and tax contributions.
- Environmental Fund Soneva Fushi showed bold leadership by introducing a 2% environmental levy on room revenue that to date has raised USD 6 million Environmental Fund. These funds have been invested in projects that will mitigate far more than Soneva Fushi’s own total carbon footprint (including guest flights) which equates to approximately 1 million tons CO2 over the next seven years. So far these projects have improved the lives of 170,000 people.
- Myanmar Stoves Campaign Four million people die from household air-pollution from cooking. That is more than from HIV/Aids and Malaria combined. The Soneva Foundation takes an innovative and imaginative approach in addressing this challenge. Following an impact investing approach the Myanmar Stoves Campaign is structured so that it is able to recover and recycle funds invested to multiply our impact it in addition to addressing the health, socio-economic and environmental issues. Benefits of the project to the local community are extensive including monetary savings for households, protection of biodiversity, training and employment opportunities and health benefits from significantly reduced indoor air pollution. All of this can be achieved while offering funders an equitable return on investment. 315 local community members have been trained as vendors allowing them to earn an income from selling stoves. 12,178 stoves have been sold benefiting 56,018 people in over 400 villages. The stoves are sold at a subsidized rate and can be purchased in installments. Typically, the families pay off their stove within six months after which they halve their expenses for wood. The efficient stove can reduce families’ wood consumption by over 50%, which typically amounts to 4 tons per year. As a result there is less deforestation. Another important benefit is the 70% reduction in CO2 emissions and significantly reduced smoke, which will reduce respiratory illnesses considerably.
- Figures over a 2.5 year period. Note also that includes registering the Myanmar Stoves Campaign as the first Gold Standard certified carbon project in Myanmar.
- Myanmar Stoves Campaign video https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=12&v=QHXZRwykNZU