Q 2) Your sustainable development action
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Through this award, we would like to hear about the overall action you have taken to promote sustainable development. These programmes and initiatives might show how your hotel or restaurant has:
Supported the local community economically: for instance, through employment opportunities, purchase/production/ distribution of local products; donating unwanted furniture/food to charities; offering waste disposal facilities to nearby businesses/local community; provision of education; training and welfare opportunities; or other reinvestment programmes.
Sustainable Developments
Sustainable development has been the key watch word while designing constructing and operating The Orchid hotel. Initiatives have been undertaken under the following heads:
- Architecture
- Civil
- Electrical
- Plumbing
- Electronic
- Interiors
- Operating Practices (Annexure 10)
Supporting the local community
Employment
To enumerate a few of our innovations, which have created employment opportunities for various suppliers are:
- Hangers made from saw dust (Annexure 11)
- Tissue boxes (Annexure 12)
- Jars for cotton wool and soap suds made from "Nuwud" which is made from waste cotton stalks (Annexure 12)
- Cane Shoe tray(Annexure 13)
- Slippers made from reed (Annexure 13)
- Cane newspaper basket(Annexure 14)
- Cloth laundry bags(Annexure 15)
- Cane Laundry basket(Annexure 16)
- Cloth shopping bags with an eco message. (Annexure 17)
- Eco-friendly pens & pencils(Annexure 18)
- Eco harvest(Annexure 19)
- Stationery (Annexure 20)
- Bins (Annexure 21)
- Jute folders(Annexure 22)
Purchase/production/distribution of local products
The local community has, from the very beginning, been a focal area for The Orchid. Our environmental purchasing programme ensures the purchase of various indigenously manufactured materials and products are purchased. By buying recycled products we not only reduce the depletion of non-renewable resources but also fuel the recycle market. Our special needs have created an entirely new niche of opportunities for suppliers. Also, our emphasis on reduction of wastage in packaging has suppliers to explore innovative means of reducing packaging without compromising quality.
We also ensure that packing & disposal costs are minimized. The suppliers are asked to take away the packing material used for delivering their respective products brought in by them. We now have suppliers offering suggestion of their own on how packaging can be reduced so as to avoid adding to the waste stream. For this purpose we also had a suppliers meet details of which are given further down in the annexures.
Donating unwanted furniture/food to charities
The Orchid and its staff are deeply involved in a number of charitable ventures, both long and short term. These include:
- Donating old clothes collected by The Green Team and donated to The Fellowship of the Physically Handicapped. This drive started in June 1997 and is still continuing with great vigour. (Annexure 23)
- On another occasion we had sponsored a meal for 800 people for St. Catherine's Home (an orphanage for girls) celebrating their platinum jubilee on 28th December 1997 (Annexure 24)
- St. Dominic Savio Boys' Home is another institution which we had helped by giving them food from our hotel for their boys.
- Last year we even organised a Christmas party for more than 100 orphans, street children & blind women for The Association for The Relief & Education of The Street & Needy Blind Indian Female (Annexure 25)
Offering waste disposal facilities to nearby business/local community
- Our separated plate waste food would go to the pig farm at St. Dominic Savio Boys' Home and in the near future we are adopting vermiculture in which our neighbouring hoteliers are also participating.
Provision of education training
(The same is covered at length in the following part of the question.)
Raised environmental awareness within the local community:
for instance, through lectures and seminars; day trips for local school children; participation in environmental awareness days; partnerships with educational institutes/non-governmental organisations; involving the local community in activities; encouraging other companies to commit to environmental programmes.
The Orchid has shared its expertise in the form of various lectures, seminars and participating in workshops. To enumerate them:
- HOTEL & FOOD SERVICES (H&FS) 1998 (For details please refer Annexure 26)
- PLAYED HOST TO 36 HOUSEKEEPERS (For details please refer Annexure 26)
- HOTEL & FOOD SERVEICES (H&FS) 1999 (For details please refer Annexure 27)
- FEDERATION OF HOTELS & RESTAURANT ASSOCIATION OF INDIA (FHRAI) 1998 (For details please refer Annexure 28)
- ACADEMY OF ARCHITECTURE (For details please refer Annexure 29)
- BOMBAY FIRST (For details please refer Annexure 30)
- ENVIRONMENT WORKSHOP ORGANISED BY FEDERATION OF HOTELS & RESTAURANT ASSOCIATION OF INDIA (FHRAI) 1999 (For details please refer Annexure 31)
- ROTARY CLUBS, are another target of our outreach programme. Members of the Rotary Clubs have been extremely responsive to environmental issues. As they come from different walks of life, they represent an excellent opportunity for us to take our message to the society at large (Annexure 32).
Day trips / Forming partnerships with educational institutions
"Catch them young" is the catch phrase at The Orchid. Our involvement with schools and colleges through lectures, day trips (wherein they are brought to the hotel and shown them the entire operations and functions of the same), project assistance, competitions,etc. enables us to take our environment message to the youth, the inheritors of the earth and the future.
The success of our initiatives is reflected in accolades, prizes and awards received by our students. To date we have worked with over 35 different schools and colleges (For details please see Annexure 33 )
Participation in environmental awareness days
Environment Days provide us an ideal occasion to take the environment message to the public at large. The Orchid celebrates:
- WORLD WATER DAY (Annexure 34)
- EARTH DAY (Annexure 35)
- WORLD ENVIRONMENT DAY (Annexure 36)
Partnerships with non-governmental organisations (Please refer Annexure 37)
The environment has our dedicated commitment. We have forged alliances with various non-government organisations (NGO's) like:
- Concern India Foundation
- Clean Air Island
- Dignity Foundation
- Bombay First
- Bandra Hindu
- Brainchild
- World Wildlife Fund
- Sanctuary (For details please refer Annexure 44)
- The Bombay Natural History Society (For details please refer Annexure 44)
with a variety of programmes and are trying to reach the message of eco-awareness to all the segments of society.
Involving local community in activities & Encouraging other companies to commit to environmental programmes
The Orchid has also spearheaded the Advanced Locality Management (ALM) programme of the city municipal corporation. Under this unique concept, initiated by the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai, residents of an area take up the responsibility of cleaning and maintaining the area.
Following our lead, other hotels in the area adopted the programme as a consequence of which the birth of Airport Hotel Zone Representatives Association took placed. The hotel industry, traditionally blamed as a major pollutant, is earning itself a new image (Annexure 38).
We have encourage other companies to commit themselves to environmental programmes. To enumerate a few instances:
- As The Orchid does not have a in-house laundry, the same goes to an outside laundry to whom we have specified that we do not want him using bleach for our clothes. Taking a leaf from our chapter he has voluntarily stopped using bleach for all the clothes coming to his laundry.
- Our mineral water bottle supplier replaced cardboard boxes used for delivering the bottles with reusable crates.
- Our tissue paper supplier taking the initiative has come up with an indigenous way of doing away with the cardboard lining required for the tissue rolls.(Please refer to Annexure 39)
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Improved the local environment, including the protection of flora and fauna: for instance, beach clean-ups; cultivating indigenous plants; initiating /supporting local wildlife conservation programmes; tree-planting.
The Orchid's environment effort extends beyond the hotel and its internal environs. We have tried to contribute our utmost towards beautifying the city and supporting its flora and fauna in association with Natural History and Wildlife Organizations.
- STREET CLEAN UP
On World Environment Day i.e. 5th June in 1998 we launched various campaigns the first being A ONE-WEEK CLEAN UP DRIVE CAMPAIGN (from 1st to 6th June 1998) which was undertaken by the team members led by our Managing Director, Mr. Vithal Kamat. The roads and by-lanes were given a face-lift by smartly turned out Team members in their white Orchid T-shirts. This drive was taken up on a regular basis.
- CULTIVATING INDIGENIOUS PLANTS
Our driveway is lined with local trees and flowering plants, the gardens in front of the main entrance and terrace gardens are beautifully landscaped and filled with indigenous plats. We take care of over 400 potted orchid plants which are grown indigenously. At The Orchid we do not encourage the use of cut flowers and every guestroom, office and public area are decorated with live plants in pots.
The Orchid has also adopted, developed and maintained 5 gardens in various parts of Mumbai.
These gardens are situated at Churchgate on Madam Cama Road, Tardeo, Chowpatty, Bandra and Sion - the former 3 being in south Bombay and the latter 2 in north Bombay (Annexure 40)
Recently the Bombay Chamber of Commerce & Industry's Civic Award 1998 - 99 for Beautification of Mumbai was Presented to The Orchid for development of a traffic signal island at the junction of K.B. Patil Marg & Madam Cama Road (Annexure 41).
We also sponsored 20 trees and tree guards for Maheshwari Nagar Road and Chunawala Compound Road Residents Association (Annexure 42)
To go a step further and adding to the flora and fauna around The Orchid has adopted and is maintaining a bus stop for the use of the public at large. Earlier the bus stop was seen as a singular iron rod with a flap on the side displaying the bus nos. and their routes. The Orchid developed it further by making a nice shelter, which creates a protection from the sun and rain alongwith a stand for the people to sit on.
In January 1998 The Orchid had participated in the Exhibition & Workshop on Horticulture organised by the Bombay Municipal Corporation wherein we won 7 awards in different categories. This year we supported the exhibition through sponsoring the trophy for the same (Annexure 43).
INITIATING /SUPPORTING LOCAL WILDLIFE CONSERVATION PROGRAMMES
The Orchid partakes in the conservation of wild life through Sanctuary which is India's best special interest magazine on nature, wildlife and the environment of the Indian subcontinent for a scientific and non-scientific audience and Bombay Natural History Society which is India's best special interest magazine on nature, wildlife and the environment of the Indian subcontinent for a scientific and non-scientific audience
(For the above details refer Annexure 44)
These are intended as guidelines for your application to this award. Above all, we wish to hear about local actions you have taken - balanced by local results - to promote sustainable development. Please describe your programmes, how you implemented, problems encountered and give details of the outcomes as appropriate. These might be assessed in terms of:
- Ecological results
- Cultural benefits
- Financial benefits - in terms of employment of local staff, support of local companies, business benefits for your hospitality industry.
1. Ecological results
At The Orchid we have tried to benefit the ecology in whatever way possible - big or small. Along the way we have met suppliers who have been extremely helpful going out of their way to help us source products which are environment friendly. On the other hand there have been those who have been extremely difficult, trying to cheat us selling products in the name of them being environment friendly (Annexure 45)
2. Cultural benefits
The cultural benefits of The Orchid have been that the team members feel a sense of commitment towards the environemnt. They help spread the message by carrying it home and imbibe the same in their day to day practices. We even carried out a survey amongst the staff, which reinforces our belief in environment (Annexure of survey46).
3. Financial benefits
- Employment of local staff.
All personnel employed at The Orchid are Indians residing in and around the city of Mumbai thereby speeding up the process of spreading the message of environemnt at a faster rate.
Local companies
We have the support of our corporate companies who associate with us due tot he fact that we are an environmentally sensitive hotel. To name a few are Asea Brown Boveri, Ion Exchange, and Indian Oil Corporation. (Annexure 47)
Another financial gain of The Orchid is the fact that 54.85% of our guests are repeat guests (Annexure 48 of guests comments)
A comparison of the energy bills of six months of this year vis a vis the same period last year show that the heat, light and power charges per occupied room has reduced by Rs. 71/- per room (Annexure 49).
3986 guests visiting the hotel have participated in the environment programme of the hotel and received certificates from us alongwith a subscription to the Sanctuary magazine (mentioned earlier)
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