Country: Thailand

Organization: Evason Phuket & Six Senses Spa

Year the initiative began: 2006

Project Website: www.sixsenses.com/Evason-Phuket/index.php

Positioning in the Mosaic of solutions:

• Main barrier addressed: Lack of collaboration
• Main insight addressed: Education through hands-on experience

What is the goal of your innovation?
To create innovative and enriching experiences in a sustainable environment – this is also the Six Senses Resorts & Spas Core Purpose.

How does your approach support or embody geotourism?
Evason Phuket & Six Senses Spa has set up an Eco Trail, which takes visitors on a journey through the heart-of-the-house of the resort. Local school groups, local communities, and guests are shown the environmental practices of the resort and explained the importance and how they can help save the environment. Features include Recycling Corner, chipping machine, bio-diesel plant, composting area, Herb & Vegetable Garden, nursery, waste water treatment plant and fresh water reservoir. At the Recycling Corner different bins are set up for visitors to separate plastic bottles, cardboard, can etc. into the correct bin for recycling. Benefits of recycling are explained and how it works through buying and selling waste in Thailand as it is not government driven but private. Garden waste is mixed with organic kitchen waste creating fertile soil, which is used in the Herb & Vegetable Garden to produce fresh vegetables for the kitchen. Full circle. Rainwater is collected and used throughout the property. Some water is treated with reverse osmosis and minerals are added to create a healthy mineral water for guests to enjoy. All used water is treated in the waste water treatment plant and used for garden irrigation. Another full circle explaining sound environmental practices to the local community.

Describe your approach in detial. How is it innovative?
Evason Phuket operates a resort with minimal negative impact on the environment through energy conservation, water conservation and waste management. The resort tries to maximize positive environmental impact through nature conservation, local employment, local products, local suppliers and educational programmes. The Eco Trail is innovative in that it takes use of the environmental practices done at the resort and educates the local community as well as guests in a practical way. Whereas many luxury resorts try to hide the back-of-the-house areas, Evason Phuket is not afraid to showcase the less beautiful parts of the resort in order for people to understand the importance of environmental sustainability and how it can be achieved. The local community and guests experience first hand insight in the types of challenges and efforts the resort has undertaken to ensure sustainable operations.

What types of partnerships or professional developement would be most beneficial in spearding your innovation?
Local schools and not-for-profit organizations are the ones who benefit the most from the Eco Trail. It is a great resource for the schools to enlighten students with more than just textbooks and class room teaching. It functions as an inspiration for the students to take back ideas to implement in their school and home. One school has even given each student their own bankbook in which they can earn money from separating waste and selling it for recycling. This also benefits the poorer local contractors, which make a living of buying in separated waste so that they can sell to recycling plants.

In one sentence describe what kind of impact, change, or reform your approach is intended to achieve.
Raise the awareness on the importance of environmental issues and practices, particularly waste management.

Describe the degree of success of your approach to date. Clearly define how you measure quantitative and qualitative impact in terms of how your approach contributes to the sustainability or enhancement of local culture, environment, heritage, or aesthetics? How does your approach minimize negative impacts?
700 students and guests have completed the Eco Trail. In particular, it has inspired the local community, through school children, to look into waste separation. As the government does little about recycling, it is mainly driven by the private sector as it is an important part of protecting the environment. It also benefits poorer local contractors, which make a living of buying in separated waste that they can sell to recycling plants. It is particularly important on an island setting like Phuket, which has a huge waste problem. The island of Phuket produces an estimated 500 tonnes of waste per day with only 250 tonnes being able to be burnt in the incinerator. With better separation, the environment and natural heritage of Phuket Island will benefit enormously.

How does your program promote traveler enthusiasm, satisfaction, and engagement with the locale?
Local schools are actively approaching us to participate in the Eco Trail and are very pleased with what they learn and experience. Phuket Municipality and the Incinerator are also pleased to see school children being educated in waste separation. Recently the local government has expressed interest in learning more about environmental management, which the resort has been more than happy to share.

In what ways are local residents actively involved in your innovation, including participation and community input? How has the community responded to or benefited from your approach?
The Eco Trail promotes responsible tourism in a practical and fun way. It encourages both guests and locals to think about long term impacts and how people can help to save the environment.

Describe how your innovation helps travelers and local residents better understand the value of the area's cultural and natural heritage, and educates them on local environmental issues. How do you motivate them to act responsibly in their future travel decisions?
Phuket is a destination that relies on its beautiful resources such as lovely beaches, clean water, coral reefs, seafood and tropical forests. Unfortunately, there is pollution generated from both travelers and local residents, through non-biodegradable waste such as plastic, untreated waste water, overuse of fresh water, deforestation etc. Phuket as a destination is in danger of loosing its appeal. With sound sustainable environmental practices one can still enjoy the beauty of Phuket for many years to come.

Is your initiative financially and organizationally sustainable? If not, what is required to make it so? What is the potential demand for your innovation?
The resort is making a healthy profit whereby it is happy to share its information through the Eco Trail for free. For this reason the Eco Trail innovation is sustainable and demand is expected to grow as environment becomes more and more important on the world agenda.

How is your initiative currently financed? If available, provide information on your finances and organization that could help others. Please list: Annual budget, annual revenue generated, size of part-time, full-time and volunteer staff.
The Eco Trail is financed through the resort and only requires Six Senses hosts (employees) to conduct it.

What is your plan to expand your approach? Please indicate where/how you would like to grow or enhance your innovation, or have others do so.
The plan is to further develop it to become more interactive and to influence more people on the island as well as visitors. Help from outside consultants and expert is being sought.

What are the main barriers you encounter in managing, implementing, or replicating your innovation? What barriers keep your program from having greater impact?
The main barrier is to have enough people with knowledge to conduct the Eco Trail. With more knowledgeable people, more customized groups with smaller numbers could be taken, resulting in more effective learning. Another challenge is for school children to have the time to participate. The programme could potentially be taken a step further where the resort actively goes out to help the local community and the government implements sound environmental practices.

What is the origin of your innovation? Tell your story.
Evason Phuket & Six Senses Spa follows Six Senses Resorts & Spas core purpose: “To create innovative and enriching experiences in a sustainable environment.” The Resort has developed an Environmental Management System (EMS) based on Green Globe 21 Company Standard and Six Senses Resorts & Spas’ Holistic Environmental Management Programme. The EMS is a tool to monitor, control and improve both the resort’s positive and negative environmental impacts. It is done on a routine basis daily, weekly, monthly and yearly depending on issues. A Green Team monitors the impacts with further responsibilities on each department. The EMS is guided by the resort’s sustainability policy. Evason Phuket & Six Senses Spa’s main environmental concern is focused around energy conservation, water conservation and waste management. Many measures have been put in place to ensure operations in a sustainable environment as well as spreading the word to the local community and guests through education. Initially, all hosts have been educated through the Green Module, however, the resort felt it was important to educate the local community as well. For this reason, the resort decided to showcase it environmental practices through the Eco Trail. The Eco Trail takes visitors on a journey through the heart-of-the-house of the resort. Local school groups, the local community and guests are shown the environmental practices of the resort and explained the importance and how they can help save the environment. Features include Recycling Corner, chipping machine, bio-diesel plant, composting area, Herb & Vegetable Garden, nursery, waste water treatment plant and fresh water reservoir. At the Recycling Corner different bins are set up for visitors to physically sort through plastic bottles, cardboard, can etc. into the correct bin for recycling. Benefits of recycling are explained and how it works through buying and selling waste in Thailand as it is not government driven but private. Garden waste is mixed with organic kitchen waste creating fertile soil, which is used in the Herb & Vegetable Garden to produce fresh vegetables for the kitchen. Full circle. Rainwater is collected and used throughout the property. Some water is treated with reverse osmosis and minerals are added to create a health mineral water for guests to enjoy. All used water is treated in the waste water treatment plant and used for garden irrigation. Another full circle explaining sound environmental practices to the local community.

Please provide a personal bio. Note this may be used in Changemakers' marketing material.
Evason Phuket & Six Senses Spa is a 260 room luxury resort operated by Six Senses Resorts & Spas. Six Senses is a Resort and Spa Management and Development Company established in 1995. Six Senses head quarters, or Hub, is located in Bangkok, Thailand. The Evason Phuket & Six Senses Spa is located at Rawai Beach on the south eastern side of Phuket Island, Thailand. It is set amongst 64 acres of beautifully landscaped tropical gardens, facing the Andaman Sea.

Please write an overview of your project. This text will appear when people scroll over the icon for your entry on the Google map located on teh competition homepage.
The Evason Phuket Eco Trail takes visitors on a journey through the heart-of-the-house of the resort. Local school groups, local communities and guests are shown the environmental practices of the resort and explained the importance and how they can help save the environment. Features include a Recycling Corner, chipping machine, bio-diesel plant, composting area, Herb & Vegetable Garden, nursery, waste water treatment plant and fresh water reservoir. At the Recycling Corner different bins are set up for visitors to physically sort through plastic bottles, cardboard, can etc. into the correct bin for recycling. Benefits of recycling are explained and how it works through buying and selling waste in Thailand as it is not government driven but private. Garden waste is mixed with organic kitchen waste creating fertile soil, which is used in the Herb & Vegetable Garden to produce fresh vegetables for the kitchen. Full circle. Rainwater is collected and used throughout the property. Some water is treated with reverse osmosis and minerals are added to create a health mineral water for guests to enjoy. All used water is treated in the waste water treatment plant and used for garden irrigation. Another full circle explaining sound environmental practices to the local community.

Contact Information
Mr. Arnfinn Oines
Environment Coordinator
Evason Phuket & Six Senses Spa
100 Vised Road, Moo 2, Tambol Rawai, Muang District, Phuket 83130, Thailand
environment-phuket@evasonresorts.com