Sandals Recognised for Protecting Environment
ST. LUCIA, September 16, 2005. Sandals Resorts in St Lucia have scooped three accolades from the Ministry of Agriculture at the island's first National Bio Diversity Awards. Sandals won the awards for Private Sector Support to Environmental Management, Access and Benefit Sharing in Bio Diversity Management and Bio Business for Environmental Management.
The awards were given in recognition of Sandals' ongoing efforts to protect the environment - including energy conservation, irrigation systems, community development and local training courses. They were presented by St Lucia's Minister of Agriculture, Mr. Ignatius Jean, to Mr. Kashmie Ali, Regional Director for Sandals in the Eastern Caribbean.
In accepting the awards, Mr. Ali said: "At Sandals, we put a huge amount of time, resources and effort into protecting the environment and we are delighted to be recognised for this. The fact that all of the Sandals Resorts in St Lucia - and throughout the rest of the Caribbean - are Green Globe certified highlights how seriously we take environmental issues. In addition to our Green Globe status, we ensure that our management team and staff are taught to be eco-aware, with each resort having its very own environmental health and safety manager," he said.
Among the environmental initiatives in practice at Sandals are special energy-saving equipment, such as low-flow showerheads and irrigation systems which use treated, recycled water, saving almost 200 million litres of water every year. Sandals also run environmental training courses for local schools and supports local eco-projects, such as beach clean-ups.