By eliminating single-use plastic water bottles and embracing in-house treatment, more and more hotels are reducing their carbon footprints.
By treating water in-house and bottling it in glass, they’re reducing plastics waste and use of fuel for transportation
Familiar bottled water brands are getting some unexpected competition from world-class hotels across South Asia. More and more of them are installing on-site plants where they bottle treated water in reusable glass for guests.
It’s an environmentally friendly strategy that ends dependence on single-use plastic bottles and saves money at the same time. In-house water treatment and bottling operations shrink hotels’ carbon footprints by eliminating the need to burn fossil fuels to transport bottled water from outside sources.
Here is how some hotels are leading the way.
Indian Hotels Company
IHCL, South Asia’s largest hospitality company, has committed itself to completely phasing out the 6 million single-use plastic bottles its hotels use annually by installing bottling plants at its hotels in Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru, Chennai, Maldives, and Sri Lanka.
IHCL began to phase out single-use plastics in 2018 by replacing plastic straws with bamboo and paper straws, and by eliminating plastic-wrapped amenities. Its Taj Exotica Resort & Spa, Andamans, is touted as the first hotel to completely eliminate single-use plastics. Other sustainable features include a waste-to-energy system that converts wet waste to gas and compost.
Alila Diwa Goa
The Alila Diwa Goa Hyatt resort is the first hotel in Goa, India, with an on-site automated drinking water bottling plant. Its “Zero Mile Water” program uses an automated system that washes, sterilizes, and fills glass bottles. An electronic system monitors water quality in real-time and guests are provided with a unique QR code to get instant insights on drinking water quality and impact. Suveer Sodhi, general manager of the hotel, said its eco-savvy guests “are now more conscious and are constantly seeking responsible travel experiences.”
Hyatt Regency Delhi
The Hyatt Regency Delhi’s fully automated water bottling plant will save 1.8 million plastic bottles a year, eliminating 28 tons of plastic waste. The entire bottling process — washing, rinsing, UV sterilization, and capping — is accomplished without human contact in a sterile room with updated equipment, and health and sanitation monitoring. The plant can produce up to 500 bottles of water an hour.
Jumeirah Vittaveli
Jumeirah Vittaveli, an island resort in the Maldives, installed a water bottling plant in 2013 and has been saving more than 70,000 plastic bottles annually. A reverse osmosis desalination plant at the hotel provides water for the bottling operation, laundry, and bathrooms. The water destined for bottling goes through a carbon filtration stage, an ultraviolet disinfection stage, and then minerals are added before the reusable glass bottles are filled and capped. Staff members are provided with refillable aluminum bottles and water fountains where they can fill them. The resort’s overall goal is to eliminate plastic bottles from the island.
Desalination for a Reliable Water Supply
Bottling water benefits the hotel industry by protecting the environment and reinforcing social values, as well as by saving money. Fluence reverse osmosis desalination systems provide drinking water and domestic water for a number of luxury resorts. Our modular NIROBOX™ units can purify fresh water and desalinate brackish or seawater to provide a reliable drinking water supply. Contact Fluence to learn more about how we can help your hotel reduce its carbon footprint and attract socially conscious guests.
