Protea Hotels phasing out plastic water bottles

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Stats on bottled water is said to indicate that putting a stop the manufacturing of bottled water could save enough oil to power South Africa's cars for an entire year and for every one litre produced, two more litres are wasted in the manufacturing process.

"As much as the environment is important to us as a group, we also realise it's important to the companies that conference with us. They seek to reduce their carbon footprint as much as possible when they travel and this goes a long way towards offsetting that carbon footprint," said PHG operations director, William Ford.

Plastic replaced by glass

According to him, over the next few months another 30 hotels will replace plastic water bottles with reusable glass bottles and water purification/bottling systems, further reducing the company's landfill contribution.

The new bottling systems come from Vivreau, the company that provides the White House and Michelin-star restaurants throughout Europe and the US with drinking water. Vivreau systems provide for filtered water to be bottled on site in sterilised reusable glass bottles rather than the single-use plastic water bottles that are used in most other hotels and conferencing facilities around South Africa.

This is not only good news for the environment, but for guests, too. Complimentary still bottled water is available on restaurant tables at every meal, in reception areas, bedrooms and hotel bars, providing benefit for visitors.

"Sensitive to the environment"

"The group doesn't see sustainability as a range of new activities because we've been sensitive to the environment for many years and we are always looking for new ways to reduce our carbon footprint. We recognise that this is a holistic process that calls for a shift in the way we approach the range of issues that face our business on a daily basis and that is what the move to the water system is all about."

He added that the transition in the 30-odd hotels from plastic bottled water to filtered water in glass bottles had been a success with no complaints from guests or hotels.