NEWS + BLOG
Sustainability at Wymara
May 5, 2022
What Sustainability Means to Us
Our Turks and Caicos Islands are internationally renowned as being ‘beautiful by nature’; so much so that we have been recognized as having the world’s most beautiful beach (Grace Bay Beach) for multiple years. This is by no means, a small accomplishment.
Here at Wymara we understand that our environment and picture-perfect ocean and beaches are part of what keeps attracting new visitors to our beautiful islands, and keep many guests returning year after year to our resort and villas. We are unquestionably interdependent to nature, consequently it is our mission to protect our home, our reef (being the third longest in the world!) and marine life, while playing our part in protecting the planet.
Now lets dive deeper…
Based on current trends, by 2050, the plastic in our oceans could weigh more than all the fish. This has many negative repercussions on our ecosystems, wildlife, and our own health. The strength and durability of plastic are the qualities that make it practical for everyday use, while at the same time being the qualities that make it devastatingly harmful once it finds its way into our oceans, where it can remain for centuries at a time. Most types of plastic are not biodegradable.
As of 2020, less than 9% of recyclable plastics are actually recycled in the USA. In an attempt to tackle the largest cause of ocean plastic pollution, we launched our sustainability program in 2021 and have committed to eliminating single-use plastic throughout our business, with the hope to inspire other businesses to do the same.
How do we define a single-use plastic? Plastic items, that are intended to be used only once or for a short period of time (less than one week) before they are thrown away. This includes those that can be recycled (e.g. petroleum based plastics, food and beverage packaging, disposable items and materials used for marketing use), unless we identify a legal and/or health and safety issue where single-use plastics are required.
What changes have we made to our business to align with our mission?
- We have eliminated the use of single use plastic water bottles on our property and have installed many complimentary water dispenser stations around our property. ‘
- We are retailing Wymara branded water bottles in our boutique to encourage our guests to refill and reuse at our water stations.
- We have implemented a keyless entry system for our guests to check-in to our rooms and villas. This allows our guests to use their mobile devices as an alternative plastic key card to access their rooms and villas. The key cards are manufactured in Europe; hence this change has the added benefit of reducing our carbon footprint with reduced logistics and shipping.
- We have reduced our menu printing by launching a new browser-based food and beverage ordering for in-room dining and pool and beach. Allowing guests to order from the comfort of their rooms and beach loungers directly from their mobile device.
- We have introduced our new luxury, vegan, certified cruelty-free in-room amenity line – Aesop providing sustainable packaging, large, refillable bottles instead of the smaller single-use containers prevalent throughout the hospitality industry.
- We have removed all plastic straws; plastic take out containers and plastic bags from our food and beverage outlets.
- In order to reduce our energy and water consumption, we have reduced the frequency of replacing linens in our rooms unless requested to do so by our guests.
- We have redesigned our water system to allow us to repurpose, recover and reuse water for resort landscaping.
- We have curated a wellness menu at our restaurant which offers vegan, vegetarian and gluten free delights and we continue to work hard in using sustainable ingredients throughout our food and beverage operation.
As we evolve our understanding of sustainability and our environmental impact, we will continue to implement changes to our practices and procedures to keep striving towards our mission. We are committed to integrity and holding ourselves accountable. We ask you to please collaborate with us if you identify an area where we could make a further change to help accomplish our goals, reach out to us at Green@Wymararesortandvillas.com.
We are passionate about being part of the change, we hope that you are too.
#NOTOPLASTICS #SUSTAINABLEBUSINESS
For more info on the complimentary activities, available on island exploration and educational eco-tours, visit our activity page.
