Soneva Sustainability

So, here’s a little – or more, a big – side to the Soneva model which a lot of people don’t always seem to realise. Soneva Fushi is not just an incredible luxury resort where you dismiss your shoes and reengage with nature. It is also a hub of sustainability research where they are constantly pushing the envelope in testing new ways to improve human relationship with the environment while also still enjoying the luxuries of the world.

A goal for the near future is to be a plastic free resort and, every day, members of our environmental teams are exploring, testing and implementing ways to not only make Soneva Fushi plastic free, but also spread that behaviour out to the rest of the Maldives and beyond.

Sonava Namoona is the project that is working to end the use of plastics on the island, and it’s also striving towards the end of open burning throughout the Maldives as a way to approach ecologically beneficial means of waste management. Three islands have already joined the pledge to end opening burning and, while that may not seem like a lot in the grand scheme of things when one thinks about how many islands there are in the Maldives, it is still the first few stepping stones set in place that can lead to a complete change, one that will ripple throughout the Indian Ocean.

The Soneva Fushi Eco-Centro is the answer to ‘What do we do with our waste if there is no open burning?’

The Eco-Centro is the heart of modern, ecologically friendly breakdown of waste. Organic and food waste is composted and used for fertiliser, while metal-based items and bottles will be ground down and recreated into economically valuable items, such as building blocks. As for plastic – until we can remove it from the island completely – it is recycled, or recreated into new useful items.

This is a very quick introduction to what we do specifically here at Soneva Fushi and what the Soneva goal is. Over the next few months, I intend to showcase a couple more blogs that look more in-depth at the amazing work being done with Namoona and the Eco-Centro and the wonderful people working behind the scenes so that Soneva doesn’t only create luxury resorts, but always paves the way for an ecologically sustainable future in this uneasy and shifting time.

In the meantime, if you are interested in learning more about Soneva sustainability, Nila Patty is our Community Engagement Officer and a champion of the sustainability movement. If you wish to learn more, find out ways you may be able to help or want to discover other projects I didn’t mention here, she can be reached at soen-fushi@soneva.com.

And while you’re doing that, Alice wrote a fantastic blog last week with some suggested titles relating to climate change being tackled through fiction – available here.

Until next time!

Ash~