The Maslow in Sandton is working toward optimising the eco-friendliness and resource efficiency of its conferencing facilities. In an effort to become carbon neutral, it has partnered with GreenDreams, an initiative developed by Climate Neutral Group, which assists hotels to reduce their carbon footprint.
At no additional cost to customers, the hotel will offset the carbon emissions generated by the use of their meeting rooms and conference facilities by investing in carbon offsets. These offsets will be used to fund the Wonderbag Project, certified under the Verified Carbon Standard (VCS), which provides communities with access to greener, safer and more reliable energy to cook meals.
“The Maslow Sandton cares about the environment and takes to heart its obligation to operate in a sustainable manner. As the need for lighting, catering, heating and cooling in conferencing venues contributes to the generation of greenhouse gas emissions, we wanted to limit the impact of these operations on the environment, with the goal of making our venues carbon neutral,” says Ashwin Jose, gm of The Maslow.
The Wonderbag, developed in South Africa, is an innovative cooker that relies on heat retention cooking to reduce energy needs. It can be used to cost-effectively prepare a wide range of one-pot dishes. The Wonderbag also saves water (due to less evaporation), and each bag can save as much as 150 litres per year.
"Both business and leisure travellers are becoming more responsible about their travel choices, and are looking for convenient ways to green their travelling as much as they can. Also, an increasing number of companies are looking for conference venues that are carbon neutral. We are excited that The Maslow hotel in Sandton has joined an ever-increasing number of hotel chains across the world that are taking action against climate change," says Nishanthi Lambrichs, programme manager for GreenDreams.
Jose adds: “We have various initiatives under way to improve the resource efficiency of our operations and we are also pursuing carbon offsetting. By offsetting the carbon emissions generated by our meeting rooms and conference facilities with the Wonderbag project, we are making strides toward being carbon neutral while supporting a sustainable project that is aimed at improving the quality of life of people in our local communities. About 22 485 people have been reached with clean cooking thanks to The Maslow’s contribution in carbon offsets.”
