Insider

Protecting Our Environment At Constance Hotels & Resorts

Posted on June 8, 2021

Reading Time: 7 minutes

At Constance Hotels & Resorts, we pride ourselves on our conscious effort to ensure the protection of our environment. Land, mangrove, ocean; we make it our mission to protect and keep it clean.

From regular clean-ups to coral plantation, we ensure that everything we do is for the good of our beautiful planet.

Delve in and discover all the different ways that we at Constance Hotels & Resorts protect our precious planet.

What We Are Doing To Protect Our Environment And Keep Our Lagoons Clean

In order to protect our environment and keep our lagoons clean, we implemented few different ways to educate our guests and teams on how we can make a difference.

One example of this is our Eco-Kiosk and waste management programme at Constance Lemuria Seychelles, where we provide information and educational lessons to teach our guests how they can help to protect our planet. At the Kiosk, we also sell environmentally friendly solar cream (P4O) to make sure that our guests stay protected from the sun’s rays during their stay.

Moreover, to keep our lagoons free of rubbish, regular beach cleanups with staff are organised. This allows the beaches to stay immaculate at all times. As well as having a regular dive clean-up activity in the lagoon every month at Constance Halaveli Maldives.

Coral Gardening Project

Did you know that Corals are one of Earth’s natural creations? Being Green Globe certified resorts in the beautiful Indian Ocean, it is our responsibility to protect them.
At Constance Lemuria, the “coral gardening” project ended successfully in 2015, after one year with a survival rate of 68% of transplanted corals. This project was one that was extremely close to our hearts, as it made the experience of snorkelling more memorable for our guests.
Next time you are at Constance Lemuria, do book yourself a snorkelling session. The abundance of sea life and beautiful coral reefs are just waiting to be discovered…

Responsible Fishing At Constance Hotels & Resorts

Responsible fishing is at the forefront of our minds. To ensure we reflect this core value, we choose not to fish in the oceans at Constance Lemuria Seychelles and Constance Halaveli. Instead, we buy fish from local fishermen.

By protecting areas such as Port Launay Marine Park, we limit specific areas to “no fishing “and let the fish thrive. It is important to us to protect our oceans, and this is one way we do just exactly that.

Plastic Reduction Swaps

Plastic pollution can cause harm to humans, animals and plants through toxic pollutants. And it can take hundreds of years for plastic to break down so the environmental damage is long-lasting. That’s why our goal at Constance Hotels & Resorts is to eliminate as much single-use plastic as possible and lead the change by sharing our good practices with the other tourism establishments of Praslin.

Plastic items that cannot be replaced are reused by different alternatives. Our teams then give these plastic materials to the community so they can benefit from using the materials with their activities. Other materials that are reused are wooden pallets, old tyres, food cans, glass jars which are distributed to schools for recycling projects.

Below are just a few of the replacements for plastic we have made:

Straw – Paper/bamboo
Stirrer – stainless steel
Disposable cups – PLA cups/paper coffee cups
Garbage bag, bin liner – Oxy-degradable
Take away box – Bamboo starch

At Constance Prince Maurice, we have several projects ongoing such as these plastic swaps:

Water bottles replaced by glass bottles
Plastic straws replaced by bagasse straws
Takeaway boxes replaced by eco-friendly boxes

Committed to positive Environmental Practices, we offer the chance to purchase reusable water bottles to protect the environment. This allows us to create and spread awareness about the importance of reusing, reducing and recycling. Since 2016 we said NO to plastic bags in Halaveli and introduced reusable bags for the entire Team.

At Constance Hotels & Resorts, we believe that even a small “Green” effort towards preserving the natural beauty of our planet can create a big impact.

For instance, Constance Halaveli partners with Parley Ocean School for plastic recycling. They send all plastic bottles collected to Germany where they can be recycled and use to create new items, such as Adidas running shoes. The collaboration with Parley Ocean School is a serious step towards preserving the natural environment of the hotel. From 2018 till 2020, we have sent around 651kgrecyclable plastic.

Image credit: Juiceline.com/Adidas-Ultra BOOST-Parley

Reducing Waste One Step At A Time

Reducing waste is at the centre of our attention with everything we do at our resorts. In order to work on this ongoing mission, we follow the guidelines of the local waste agency that implemented the recycling program for pet bottles.

A recent project at Constance Belle Mare Plage, named “Coco Bougie” had the objective to create an eco-friendly candle that is handcrafted using upcycled tea light candles. This was one innovative way we have put in place to eliminate waste and creating something beautiful.

At Constance Halaveli, in order to ensure every guest has options, we have implemented a “Green” choice. A turtle plush and a room card are used to explain the process of how bedding will be changed. For example, bed linen can be changed every 2 days and towels can be changed on request.

Other actions we have implemented are:

A towel tag – this is placed in the bathroom and helps guests to contribute in saving water and chemicals as they can opt whether they need washing or not.
A linen tag – this is found on the bed and is a great incentive to make guests aware that they can contribute by choosing whether they need to change their linen daily or when needed.
Soap for hope – The aim of our soap for hope is to collect used soap, reprocess it and turn it into something usable.
Water bottle plant – It helps the hotel to produce water for its own consumption.

Reducing Waste And Saving The Environment With The New COVID Rules

With the new COVID rules, we are taking steps to look after our environment whilst staying safe. We’ve put in place different safety measures which are also eco-conscious and protecting our environment.
Carry on reading to find out what those are…

At Constance Lemuria, we provide disposable masks which are available at the front office for guests on request. Additionally, the masks which are used by team members are fabric masks that are washed in the laundry.

In order to keep our teams and guests safe, we use surgical/N95 masks which are disposed in well-sealed bags. We have also incorporated a dedicated separate bin for the masks at Constance Halaveli which keeps everything hygienic and sanitary. In order to reduce plastic with the hand sanitiser bottles, we are planning to implement aluminum refill bottles that guests will take away.

At Constance Belle Mare Plage we also:

Reuse of room cards (after being disinfected).
We create our own compost from vegetable peelings, eggshell, dead leaves, broken branches.

Below are also some energy-saving programs that guests can participate in at Constance Prince Maurice:

Aircon stickers to discourage guests leave their door open when the AC is on.
A dodo placed on the bed of our guests. The extinct bird of Mauritius, Dodo is used to remind us that if we are not careful our resources will become extinct… if the Dodo is placed on the bed we will not change the bed sheets every day.
Towel re-use program. If a towel is hanged on the bathroom towel rack it will not be replaced. Only towels placed in the bathtub will be replaced.

To further reduce waste at Constance Halaveli, a large quantity of food waste from the restaurants is composted. The soil generated from the composting site is re-used for landscaping and gardening, keeping our plants green and healthy.

Repairing And Mending At Constance Hotels & Resorts

Reparing and mending is one vital way to reduce waste, and we ensure nothing is thrown away unless absolutely necessary.

At Constance Lemuria Seychelles, we have a maintenance department that consists of plumbers, carpenters, electricians, mechanics and masons. They work on maintaining all electrical appliances of the kitchen, bars, laundry/club. We make a conscious effort to repair items before throwing them away. Other than maintenance included tailor repairing cushion covers, mattress protector, curtains and any other damaged fabric.

At Constance Belle Mare Plage, we are repairing the whole resort per zone.

This includes:

Villas
Legend Golf Course
Links Golf Course
Junior Suite Beach Front rooms, Serenity Pool & Boathouse
Spiaggia
Junior Suite Rooms & Indigo Restaurant/ Pool
Prestige Rooms, CKC, Conference
Hotel entrance, Reception, lobby, courtesy lounge, shops

Steps Towards Environment Protection At Constance Prince Maurice

Constance Prince Maurice are taking vital steps to ensure the resort keeps its natural beauty and the environment is protected. We explain just a few of the ways we are putting environment protection as a priority

At the Spa, we are using one of the best sustainable and environmentally friendly sunscreens by Sisley – Sisley Sunscreen. This innovative product does not impact negatively the marine ecosystem and also keeps guests safe from the sun.

Another successful project is bee-keeping. The honey collected can be purchase by guests at our hotel.

How Are You Celebrating World Ocean Day This Year?

At Constance Lemuria, we are hosting a ‘turtle talk’ with our famous turtle manager Robert Matombe as well as a free dive to clean up the coral reef of Petit Anse Kerlan.

To celebrate World Ocean Day at Constance Halaveli, we’re hosting a virtual general knowledge session to share information about the environment, pollution, and climate change with our guests and teams. To our lucky guests, we will also be giving away battery bags as well as hosting the Environmental & Ocean Sand sculpture Exhibition at Jahaz Beach.