M LH has pledged to drive Green Initiatives in its day to day Operation and thereby contribute towards saving the planet for years to come.

MLH understands that our operation has an impact on the local, regional and global environment. With this in mind MLH has committed to practice the 4 R`S – Refuse, Reuse, Reduce, Recycle.

The five committees driving the green Project, namely Energy Management, Water Management, Waste Management, Procument Management, and Community Development are dedicated towards the cause and will make every effort to reach their targets.

Our aim is to operate an environment friendly Hotel, Protecting our beach, the sea, our environment, our community, our team & our guests by reducing any harmful effects on the Planet.

To ensure that the entire MLH Team contributes to this cause, each Team member is assigned to one of the five committees, at the time of recruitment. Thereby from the 1st day, the Team Member is involved in the Green Project & contributes towards it Success.

Energy Management Team

Policy - 2012

Mount Lavinia Hotel will reduce the energy usage by introducing new technology and energy saving equipments.

Objective

To reduce energy usage at Mount Lavinia Hotel by 5% by end of the financial year

Action Points

Introduce New Technology and Energy saving equipment, Campaigning on energy saving and conducting classes amongst team members.

Indicators

Amount of KWH, Volume of diesel, petrol and LPG purchased by Mount Lavinia Hotel

Water Management Team

Policy –2012

Mount Lavinia Hotel will reduce the Water usage by introducing new technology and water saving equipment.

Objective

To reduce Water usage by Mount Lavinia Hotel by 3% by end of the financial year and Earth charging 90% of rain water by year 2015

Action Points

Introduce New Technology and Water saving equipment, Campaigning on Water saving and conducting classes among team members. Maintaining the watering of the garden only after dark.

Indicators

Number of water liters purchased by Mount Lavinia Hotel

Waste Management Team

Policy - 2012

Mount Lavinia Hotel will reduce the amount of waste generated by Reducing, repairing, reusing and recycling.

Objective

To reduce Waste generated by Mount Lavinia Hotel by 5% by end financial year

Action Points

Reduce consumption of materials, campaigning on wastage and conducting classes among team members.

Indicators

Amount of waste collected by the municipality and recycling company.

Procurement Management Team

Policy - 2012

Mount Lavinia Hotel will increase the local purchases by arranging the supply chain with environment friendly suppliers. Go for bulk purchases.

Objective

Purchasing only bio degradable chemicals and polythene. Purchase 90% of local items and 95% of recycled items by 2015.

Action Points

Introduce new environment friendly local suppliers, conducting market surveys.

Indicators

Amount of local items and recycled items purchased by Mount Lavinia Hotel

Community Development Team

Policy - 2012

Mount Lavinia Hotel will increase the commitment of the local community towards a greener environment by implementing awareness programs.

Objective

Improve knowledge, ability and awareness of local community

Action Points

Organizing programs such as tree planting, Earth hour, blood donations, Medical camps including Eye testing, seminars for team members, children and adults. Also art and debating contest among school children relating to environment protection topics

Indicators

Amount of participants at these programs.

How MLH went beyond the hour to celebrate Earth Hour 2012: Slow Food Earth Hour Dinner

As the largest environmental event in history, Earth Hour asked people and communities around the world to switch off their lights for one hour as a silent but powerful statement about the effects of human-accelerated climate change. Last year, more than 5,200 cities and towns in 135 countries worldwide switched off their lights for Earth Hour, and thousands of individuals took advantage of the opportunity to go "Beyond The Hour" to change their energy consumption habits for good. MLH who have been active in their green initiatives have taken the Earth Hour celebrations which beyond the idea of it being a trend.

"WE at MLH have celebrated it three years running and the only way Earth Hour can make a real difference is to recognize and celebrate the fact that this is the greatest time to be alive, and to illuminate global climate change," stated Mr Anura Dewapura, General Manager of MLH and the initiator of the Slow Food Chapter in Sri Lanka. "We went beyond the hour and made it an evening mixed with responsibility, sustainability and a celebration of nature in its purest form." 30th Slow Food Night at MLH was held as a celebration to the significant hour of need and emphasized that it is more than just switching off the lights for an hour. Slow Food is the world's largest single campaign in support of planet earth.

The 30th Slow Food Dinner showed off with Chef Riccardo from Vakarufalhi doing the honours of presenting the menu by candlelight. All featured menu items were ingredients that are local and seasonal. This was a truly great event and an elegant way to spend Earth Hour.

• Campaigns- Planting of Trees, in the nearby areas with the group effort of neighbouring schools, such as The Girls High School Mount Lavinia and The Buddhist Girls School in Mount Lavinia.
• Kaduru Project- Kaduru seeds planted at the hotel nursery. Once the plant grows to a certain height they are used as decorations in the guest rooms and public areas. The cost of purchasing flowers from Nuwaraeliya will be a savings. This stops the carbon emission for hotel decorations. Once they grow higher they are removed and planted on river banks to conserve soil erosion.
• "Importance of correct environmental practices" conducted by Mr. Hemantha Rathnayake. ( Guest lecturer and environmental consultant)
• Operating a pre-school for low income families from the fishing community in the neighbouring areas. ( The teachers also from the neighbourhood)
• More than 60% of the staff working at The Mount Lavinia hotel is from the local community.
• Blood donation campaign
• Eye testing campaign
• Distributing trees free of charge to enhance the green initiative. .
• Slow food promotion gives the opportunity for local farmers to take part in these events and address guests directly.

• Monitor energy consumption daily with 2 main meters and 44 sub meters (monitoring 93% of total usage) The aim is to monitor 100% by end of the year.
• All bulbs changed to CFL / LED lamps except those being used with dimmers
• Fix timers and motion sensors for better controls in the Sea & Garden wing and the public areas.
• Fixed Variable speed drives on pumps. It reduced more than 1500Kw Per Day 547500Kw per annum. 8% of total usage (approximately). More VSD units to be fixed during this year.
• Room temperature set point was initially at 22 degrees Celsius presently, the room temperature set point maintained at 24 degrees Celsius.
• Fixed energy saving card switches to all guest rooms in the Sea and Garden wing. Setting upto extend the facility to other rooms.
• Sun light used for the corridors at the Bay wing and the old wing of the Hotel.
• Double glazing glass partitions installed in all guest rooms in the Sea and Garden wing of the hotel. (This reduces the heat load entering the room.)
• Preventive maintenance is on time. This will stop unexpected break downs and save energy and spare parts cost.
• Conduct classes to team members on "How to save energy at their home". The objective is to ensure they practice these lessons everywhere.

• Monitor, energy consumption daily with 2 main meters and 37 sub meters.
• Fix low flow rate filters to all taps.
• Fix low flow rate showers to all guest rooms.
• Dual flush systems installed in 81 guest rooms.
• Fix electronic sensor type valves for urinals.
• Reduce the water quantity by keeping object inside the WC flush tank.
• All guest rooms contain tent cards. (For linen reuse as guest wishes) this programme will reduce the quantity of water, chemical and electricity.
• Collect all condense water from ice machines & A/c units then direct them to fountains.

Completed

Environmentally responsible, sustainable or "green" procurement committee select products and services that minimize environmental impacts and maximize the 4Rs – reduce, recycle, reuse and recovery.

Waste reduction.

If waste is produced, every effort should be made to reuse it.
Recycling should only be considered for waste which cannot be reduced or reused.
Recover materials or energy from waste which cannot be reduced, reused or recycled.

Reuse projects

Compost plant – garden refuse, outlet waste particularly organic are composted in our compound and used for all our gardens.
Bio-degradable pesticides – We manufacture our own biocides by using left over soap from guest rooms and ‘kohomba’ (Margosa or Neem) oil; The oil has a medicinal value. It is used to make herbal oil. The speed is valuable as an insecticide too. The green leaves are insect resistant.
‘Global No-Pesticides Use Day’ – This day was observed on 3rd December 2009 and the use of bio degradable pesticides and organic fertilizer in the Hotel gardens was launched on this date. Media publicity was also given for this event
We have obtained ‘Bio-degradable Certification’ in respect of all chemicals used in Laundry, Housekeeping, Food & Beverage and Kitchen.

Recycling projects

Instructions have been given to the general office staff on the re-use of box files, photocopy paper, used paper and old documents.
Empty jam jars and glass bottles, laundry chemical cans, canisters and flagons are re-sold for re-filling.
Polythene bottles, bags and papers are sold to recycling plant.
Cardboard boxes and containers are re-sold to paper re-cycling plant.

Reduction Projects

Cost saving mechanism - Bulk quantities are purchased as much as possible particularly on Kitchen and Food and Beverage supplies.

Recoveries Projects

Stores helpers and assistants have been trained in the proper use of equipment and chemicals. This is in order to obtain maximum benefit from equipment and chemicals.

In Progress

Change guest amenities to use bio-degradable and eco-friendly products.
Re-cycled paper to be used in guest rooms.

• The use of plastic has been reduced.
• Wet garbage sent to live stock farm.
• 100% garden waste is compost.
• All paper waste separated from the place of origin is sent to paper plant for recycling.
• 90% of dry garbage is separated and plastics, glass, metal is sent for reuse and recycling.
• Coconut shells are sent to craft shops.
• Income from selling those items credited to Team member welfare fund.
• Reduce the usage of paper serviette and introduce cloths
• All internal communications on e-mails are subjected for printing if really necessary.
• Reusing programme on A4 papers in all offices.
• We purchase only cleaner products.
• Keep minimum stock on vegetables to reduce spoilage.
• The Mount Lavinia hotel produces their own compost and does not purchase outside fertilizers.
• The Mount Lavinia Hotel does not purchase pesticides and use eco friendly products. We make required pesticides for the Hotel by using Kohomba seeds etc.
• Fruits for the welcome drink served at The Mount Lavinia Hotel are purchased from the local market and its seasonal.

Green Month celebrated by Mount Lavinia Hotel

“Green Month is an opportunity for all Sri Lankans to take a positive and active role in helping protect our environment. By planting native trees and shrubs, we can help to combat climate change, provide food and shelter for our wildlife and beautify our surrounding,“ states Mr Anura Dewapura, General Manager Mount Lavinia Hotel.

Mount Lavinia Hotel‘s commitment to the environment by undertaking five aspects that will be assessed towards Certification in the future, is right on schedule. The hotel will be assessed according to performance criteria that will guarantee, among other things, better waste management, less air pollution, noise control, energy and water consumption control.

Celebrating the National Tree Planting Day along with Nilla Piruna Ratak programme under the Mahinda Chintana at the Mount Lavinia Hotel is indeed a logical fit given to its ongoing “GOING GREEN” commitment to working for the environment.

The main aim of the Green Month is to inspire, educate and recruit many to actively care for our unique land and create future generations of committed environmental custodians. And the objective behind Mount Lavinia Hotel’s initiative to plant coconut seedlings is to use species that are best suited to local conditions, since native plants use far less water than exotic species, in addition they help restore the natural character of an area, and finally they provide food and shelter for local native wildlife.

Global No Pesticides Use Day commemorated by Mount Lavinia Hotel

Since December 3rd has been designated the Global “No Pesticides Use Day” to commemorate what many consider the worst chemical disaster in the history of humankind–Bhopal. The date was chosen to commemorate the anniversary of the chemical disaster in Bhopal, India, which occurred 3 December, 1984, and killed hundreds and injured thousands of people. And indeed the day aims to draw attention to the life threatening impacts of chemical pesticides on people and the environment.

Mount Lavinia Hotel’s Green initiatives main mission is to offer tangible ideas to be actively shaping the environment that they live in, and commemorating a day as such is one of their pledges to a better tomorrow.

The General Manager of the hotel states, “We passionately reject the presence of pesticides in our property they are in no way contributing to improving the quality of life of our people.”

To commemorate the day Mount Lavinia Hotel launched their compost manufacturing unit in the property along with the afternoon spent in using biocides on plants which replaces harmful pesticides, weedicides and fungicides in the premises and environment of the property.