Environmental Solutions: Bhatara Amornrattanakij – JW Marriott Phuket Resort & Spa

The amount of waste produced Phuket increases exponentially every year. According to Phuket City Mayor Somjai Suwansupana the average monthly amount of waste produced from October 2017 through September 2018 was about 925 tons so it’s a serious problem. Waste is not only an environmental problem, but also an economic headache. How can we change the way we produce and consume so as to lessen the island’s waste problem? Let’s have a look at some ideas from four hotels in Phuket.

“The whole world’s in our hands. I believed that preventing and reducing food, water and carbon waste should be top priority to all of us” said Bhatara Amornrattanakij, Director of Marketing Communications, JW Marriott Phuket Resort & Spa

“The Marriott International cannot succeed unless we treat the environment and communities where we do business with the same level of care that we deliver to our customers” said J.W. “Bill” Marriott, Jr., Executive Chairman and Chairman of the Board,  Marriott International, Inc. Since the founding in 1927, Marriott International has had a deep commitment to taking care of the communities where we do business. The Serve360: Doing Good In Every Direction” platform was launched to deepen our commitments in driving our sustainability and social good agenda through a series of next generation goals that the company aims to meet by 2025. These efforts have been organized into four priority areas, which we call coordinates: (N) Nurture Our World, (E) Empower Through Opportunity, (S) Sustain Responsible Operations and (W) Welcome All and Advance Human Rights.

In terms of Waste Management System, it related to our (S) Sustain Responsible Operations pillar. Our 2025 Goals: Reduce environmental footprint by Water: Reduce water intensity by 15%. Carbon: Reduce carbon intensity by 30%. Waste: Reduce waste to landfill by 45%. Reduce food waste by 50%

At the property level, JW Marriott Phuket Resort & Spa has a strongly commitment to the environmental sustainability and implemented numerous projects since open its door to business. It is essential for a hotel industry to have an effective waste management system which focuses on preventing, reducing waste, reusing useful materials, recycling them. Last but not least, the last step is disposal which generally involves landfill and incineration of waste.

Apart from the on-going environmental sustainability programs that we are still continually doing: Those are the use of local handicraft product on ‘Welcome Bracelet’ project which made from the Baan Mai Khao community; Reducing the carbon waste by purchasing the seafood & local sourcing from the Sea Gypsy, Black Crab Community, Soft Shell Crab Community and local fishery farm nearby the resort and The on-site Mai Khao Marine Turtle Shelter and Education Center where the dedicated team educate and build the environmental awareness to people.

Furthermore, we kicked off some environmental sustainability initiative programs as follow since last year;

• “Skip The Straw”: By encouraging our guests and associates to skip the use of plastic straws at our restaurants and bars. Alternatively, we offer the paper straws if requested. However, Food & Beverage team also looks into the reusable materials that we can replace the paper straws this year.
• Partnered with Generation Water company to eradicate plastic water bottles in the resort, by producing and bottling alkaline water made 100% from the air. The innovative solution is the first of its kind and produces more than 4,000 litres (1,000 gallons) of mineralised drinking water, made from the air, every day. The water is extracted from the virtually unlimited source of humidity in the air; filtered, essential minerals are added and then bottled into re-useable glass bottles. The solution is operated on-site by Generation Water at the JW Marriott Phuket Resort & Spa. The water produced by Generation Water’s solution is rigorously monitored for quality and has been audited and approved by the Thailand Ministry of Public Health’s Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Since the production officially kicked off almost five months ago, we have already prevented more than 100,000 plastic bottles from entering our landfills or oceans. In 2019, this solution will eradicate more than 2 million plastic bottles. Generation Water in partnership with Marriott International are in the process of increasing the scale to provide more than 4 million glass bottles across all the Marriott resorts in southern Thailand. This aims to further reduce plastic waste, reduce the carbon footprint and decrease our reliance on the traditional water sources.
• Partnered with LightBlue Environmental Consulting Co., Ltd., the consulting firm that focusing on sustainability in the hospitality sector, expressly on food waste prevention. Since September 1, Marriott Café where serving the thousand guests a day on the breakfast buffet line, It has been selecting as the pilot restaurant out of 10 restaurants & bars of JW Marriott Phuket Resort & Spa to implement our Food Waste Prevention Project. With an impressive result, based on the November data, The Marriott Cafe achieved a 33.0% average reduction in food waste per cover across the full post-Baseline period which is well beyond the goal of a 10% reduction.Read more:
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