Plastic action, not fiction

Sustainability is a defining characteristic of what luxury means to us. It’s also an area where we want to be a story-doer rather than a storyteller. With this year’s Earth Day themed around Planet vs. Plastics, here are our impacts and how you help each time you stay.

Going beyond sustainability

Vice President of Sustainability, Jeff Smith isn’t actually content with the notion of sustainability. “Sustainability means the ability to sustain and ensure our operations can continue indefinitely and not deplete local resources or natural assets. We want to go beyond that and make a net positive impact on our local wildlife, ecosystems, culture, and communities. Take plastics. Although the innovations we’ve introduced, like ensuring all Six Senses properties bottle their own drinking water on site since 2003, meant we were already doing more than most, we continue to push for better.”

Journey to plastic freedom

Following a successful plastic-free inventory pilot in 2016, Six Senses commissioned researchers to review our plastic reality in our operations and supply chains. By categorizing this data, it opened our eyes to the plastic we hadn’t “seen” before so we could implement solutions to eliminate even more plastic from our resorts. To galvanize our local efforts, in 2018, Jeff launched a group-wide and “intentionally over-ambitious” Plastic-Free 2022 initiative to create a baseline from which to design training and measure progress across all resorts. He is now focused on continuing to reinforce and share this knowledge with new Six Senses properties with the launch of our Plastic Freedom Playbook, which outlines tried and tested solutions to 82 common hotel plastic items.

The Playbook also gives us the chance to shine a spotlight on our Plastic Heroes, like Dawa at Six Senses Bhutan, who led the country’s first-ever natural beeswax wrap production, which has since been introduced at all five Six Senses lodges in the country to minimize the dependency on cling film. Over at Six Senses Uluwatu, Bali, Agustiarini converts old spa robes and sheets into beautiful tote bags and is teaching hosts to create their own upcycled bags too. And in corporate purchasing, Sharlev has introduced a new vendor management system to ensure supplier products meet Six Senses sustainability guidelines.

Pollution from plastic occurs during production, extraction, use, and disposal. By the time we recycle, much of the environmental damage is already done. That’s why we work with suppliers to uphold our sustainability principles of circulatory, take-back packaging, and single-use plastic refusal.

From zero to hero with the United Nations

Pollution from plastic occurs during production, extraction, use, and disposal. By the time we recycle, much of the environmental damage is already done. That’s why we work with suppliers to uphold our sustainability principles of circulatory, take-back packaging, and single-use plastic refusal, and our properties ensure we transform as much waste as we can into new wealth. Six Senses Zighy Bay, for example, was selected by the United Nations secretary advisory board out of 92 projects submitted to participate in a panel discussion on zero waste best practices on March 27, 2024. This was an opportunity for the resort’s Director of Sustainability, Armand Thieblemont, to outline our impactful long-term goals and concrete examples, such as recycling glass into homewares during hands-on activities that guests can take part in. The UN will share this case study across its members’ networks.

Giving up plastic doesn’t mean giving up fun

There’s a misconception about sustainability that Jeff wants to quash – that it means giving something up, including fun. “Ultimately, sustainability will keep the world safe for future generations, but it doesn’t mean we can’t engage people in a way that is entertaining.”

At each Six Senses property, the Earth Lab serves as a central hub for innovation and creativity, reusing and transforming materials that might otherwise become waste. Come along to workshops to learn how to upcycle old candles and paper, craft colorful tableware from crushed glass bottles, or even turn an old towel into a plant pot!

“I’m proud of the way our Earth Lab is joyful and playful so that people invest emotionally,” Jeff continues. “I really do believe that part of our greatest opportunity is to open people’s eyes to the solutions and have them believe, ‘we can do this, we make a positive change for communities and for our wildlife’.”

Community action

Philippa Roe is our Group Manager of Regenerative Impact. She explains, “We see ourselves as guests too. The local communities and ecology provide us with much of the social and natural resources we need to create the Six Senses experience. We have a responsibility to respect and care for the culture, environment, and wildlife that make the locations of our properties unique and exciting.”

In 2023, 10 of our Sustainability Fund projects, many of which were established through local partnerships, were targeted towards improving public waste management and raising awareness about waste.

“Six Senses Courchevel partners with One Tree at a Time, an organization that operates in an Alpine region where sports such as skiing and hiking are a prominent part of life and livelihoods,” Philippa says. “The disposal of outdoor apparel, often made from synthetic, non-recyclable materials, into landfill is a major issue. One Tree works to repair and reuse this clothing, avoiding waste while supporting livelihoods through employing a team of 10 repairers and running workshops to educate the public on how to repair their own clothes.”

She continues, “By contrast to the snowy Alps, another example comes from the tropical forests of Asia. In Vietnam, Six Senses Ninh Van Bay helps improve waste collection in its surrounding communities by providing segregated waste bins, and bags for fishers to collect trash at sea. The projects provided improved waste management to 5,304 people, and 477 people attended educational and awareness-raising events just last year. And in Cambodia, under its Waste Awareness project, Six Senses Krabey Island launched an initiative in 2023 with partners AllKids, named ‘Plastic Back Home’. Plastic was collected from clean-ups and a primary school and taken to a plastic recycling partner. This improved access to waste management for 1,950 people, and 178 people participated in 154 hours of activities within the project.”

In 2023, Six Senses reported the following impacts:

• 9,254 people gained access to improved public waste management.
• 14,663 kilograms of trash were removed from the environment. 
• 31,220 people attended awareness-raising activities during 4,336 hours of teaching and hosting.
• 20,000 guests took part in Earth Lab activities. 

Within the world of hospitality, we believe we have created a niche by putting sustainability and well-being at the heart of what luxury means for us. Eliminating plastic gives our hosts and guests the luxury of harm-free surroundings in which every detail has been considered in terms of their health and happiness. Read more about sustainability at Six Senses.