If there were an imaginary earthly paradise, Shangri-la’s resorts would come very close to it. The Shangri-La group of hotels is making concerted efforts at respecting mother nature and keeping its environmental footprint as faint as possible.
As a founding member of the Asia Pacific Environmental Initiative, it has implemented Green Programmes in all its properties. This can be seen in two of its submissions for the Prime Minister’s CSR Awards under the Environment category: for the Tanjung Aru Resort and Spa in Kota Kinabalu and Shangri-La Hotel Kuala Lumpur.
The Tanjung Aru Resort and Spa holds the distinction of being the first hotel in Sabah to be ISO 14001 Environmental Management System (EMS) certified. This was in 2000, and the resort has been recertified every year since for continued compliance with set goals and objectives. Among the activities undertaken are: waste management via recycling, reducing and reusing as well as natural resource conservation, pollution control, community environmental efforts, training staff on environmental issues, and sharing its environmental aspirations with the public.
Its commitment to the environment has meant that Tanjung Aru Resort and Spa is a partner to the City Hall and Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment in their environmental initiatives. On its own steam, the resort leads the first Safety, Security and Environment sub-committee of the Malaysian Association of Hotels, sharing its knowledge with other resorts through workshops and training sessions, and working with a nearby water village to develop sustainable tourism. It has also adopted four schools, which it involves in various environmental projects, and regularly organises joint beach clean-up efforts.
All activities that have an impact on the environment are controlled by documented procedures and operating instructions, and the results are recorded in compliance with ISO 14001 EMS requirements. The resort’s annual objectives include:
- reducing waste to landfill by 1%
- reducing energy consumption by 1%
- reducing water consumption by 1%
- reducing fuel consumption by 1%
- running 12 communication projects on the environment
- providing training on the environment
To achieve these objectives, the resort has established various best practices such as composting, purchasing environment-friendly products such as energy-saving light bulbs, installing a water recycling tank in the laundry, employing water meters in the kitchens and monitoring water consumption… The resort is the first to recycle its used paper, cardboard boxes, aluminum cans, mineral water bottles, used cooking oil and gallon bottles in a systematic way and is constantly looking for more collectors to ensure more waste items can be recycled rather than sent to the landfill.
At the Shangri-La Hotel, Kuala Lumpur, meanwhile, the commitment to preserving the environment is reflected in sustainability efforts in five areas: climate change, ozone depletion, water use management, waste disposal management and indoor air quality. The hotel practices several environment friendly measures such as fitting all guest rooms with water saving devices in taps and showers as well as using energy-saving LCD screen TVs.
The hotel’s 2009 EMS objectives and targets are to reduce its electricity, water and gas consumption by 3% over 2008 averages, and to maintain the general usage of chemicals in the hotels at 2008 levels. It has just completed a RM138 million makeover in which the following ‘green’ features have been added:
- composite panels in the exterior cladding of the hotel to reduce wall heat load thus reduce the amount of energy needed to cool each room
- energy-saving lifts
- non-CFC chillers in the kitchens that conserve energy and has far less environmental impact that the old chillers
- HCFC air conditioning chiller refrigerants, which are energy saving
the use of natural instead of liquefied petroleum gas, as natural gas is cleaner and safer - a wet waste composting system to recycle all food waste into organic fertilizers
The Prime Minister’s CSR Awards, launched by the Ministry of Women, Family and Community Development in 2007, aims to recognise companies that have made a difference to the communities in which they operate through their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programmes. Download the Official Entry Form.
