CB BureauMahindra Holidays & Resorts India Ltd’s Coorg resort (Virajpet) in Karnataka has received India’s first ‘zero waste to landfill (ZWL) resort’ certification from Intertek, a quality assurance provider to industries worldwide. This certification was the result of several initiatives such as recycling and reusing 99.32 percent of the resort’s waste, preventing it from going into landfills.
The resort started this project in September 2018, sourcing materials that are ecofriendly and biodegradable (like straws, laundry bags and packaging of bathroom amenities made from corn starch) and using disposable wooden cutlery, liquid soap dispensers in rooms instead of soaps and bottled shampoos, etc. The resort identifies and categorises waste which is then disposed of through authorised collectors and recyclers. Some of the sustainability measures are converting food waste into manure, sewage water being treated in a STP which is used for gardening, installing aerators in taps of all rooms to reduce water consumption, eliminating the use of plastic bottles, rainwater harvesting, and planting an organic garden within the resort premises.
Zero waste requires the redesign of resource life cycles so that all products are reused. The goal is for no trash to be sent to landfills, incinerators, or the oceans. As per international standards, organisations with more than 99 per cent waste diversion from landfills receive ‘zero waste to landfill’ certification. The company plans to adopt comprehensive sustainability measures to ensure 100 per cent diversion of waste from the resort.
Other sustainability initiatives at the resort are:
Water
- Rainwater harvesting
- STP water utilised for irrigation and flushing
- Real-time monitoring of STP water quality through an IOT-based platform
- Sensor taps and urinals, sensor WC flush, waterless urinals, etc., for water conservation
Energy
- Optimising operation timing of high-power machines
- Optimising AC equipment set temperature
- Optimising hot water set temperature
- Using timer for external lighting
- Installation of key-card energy saver in guest rooms
- Motion sensors in corridors at guest-room blocks
- Installation of LED lighting across the resort
An official spokesperson of the company informs CauseBecause that this year Club Mahindra is targeting 10 more of its resorts to be certified under ‘zero waste to landfill’. Other resorts are implementing measures to reduce waste generation and ensure proper disposal of waste by installing vermicompost systems and biogas plants.