Constance Ephelia Resort Marks Nine Years of Green Globe Sustainability Certification
VICTORIA, Seychelles — Constance Ephelia Mahe Seychelles was recently recertified for the ninth consecutive year by Green Globe, the worldwide sustainability certification system based on internationally accepted criteria for sustainable operation and management of travel and tourism businesses. The five-star resort was first certified by Green Globe in 2015, and the renewal marks a significant milestone in the country’s sustainable tourism journey. The certification is one of the most recognised in the global hospitality industry, and is increasingly being used by tour operators and travellers as a marker of credible sustainability practice.
Constance Ephelia Seychelles enjoys a unique location set within 120 hectares of land with luxuriant and rare vegetation, situated on two of the most beautiful beaches on the island of Mahé, overlooking the Marine National Park of Port Launay and the Morne Seychellois National Park. The setting gives the resort a particular responsibility to manage its environmental footprint, and the certification reflects a comprehensive approach to sustainability that goes well beyond a single initiative. The resort’s location in the heart of a national park, in effect, makes sustainability a central part of the brand proposition, rather than an add-on.
Constance Ephelia adheres to a comprehensive sustainability management plan that includes innovative green ideas developed on the island. The focus has been to minimise environmental impacts on the neighbouring environment by following an energy, water and waste management plan that enhances operational efficiency. Staff also strive to improve communication of the resort’s sustainability practices through conducting campaigns that encourage employees and guests to follow best practices. The internalisation of sustainability across the staff base is being held up as a key driver of the resort’s long-term success in this area.
Constance Ephelia’s waste management programme includes recycling of plastic and glass bottles, scrap metal and batteries, aluminium cans, electronic waste, coffee capsules and used cooking oil. The hotel collaborates with Food Intel Tech, a food waste monitoring solution for commercial kitchens, to track and reduce food waste. Great efforts are made to tackle food waste at the property, and an interesting new idea has been introduced with the sale of chicken bones and fish head waste to generate revenue. Some of the food refuse is collected by a farmer and fed to pigs on the island, while vegetable remains are segregated and fed to a family of Aldabra giant tortoises.
To eliminate the use of plastic bottles, the resort has established an in-house glass water bottling plant that supplies drinking water for guests. Furthermore, glass bottled water from a local supplier now provides drinking water in restaurants and minibars in place of previously used plastic bottles. This initiative has substantially reduced the amount of used plastic bottles by approximately 80,000 per year. The resort also runs a community-supported mangrove management programme in partnership with Nature Seychelles, and is the first mangrove honey producer in the country. The breadth of the sustainability programme is being read as a model for other large resorts in the country, and is being used by the tourism board as a case study in its own training for hoteliers.
