Water, air, coal, gas, oil, and minerals – we often talk about these six natural resources when it comes to the topic of environmental protection because they are limited. That is why another, a seventh resource is growing more and more important: recyclables.
On March 18th, 2018, the first Global Recycling Day, initiated by the Bureau of International Recycling (BIR), took place. Its objective was to make us rethink our attitude towards recycling and to stress its importance for the future of our planet. People all over the world took this day as an opportunity for events and activities focusing on the motto “Reduce, reuse, recycle”. We want to highlight a few examples to show you what happened on that day and what is possible in everyday life in terms of recycling. And if you want to act now, you can sign this petition, asking the United Nations to take measures for a united approach towards recycling.

Recycling: Paddle against plastic

The team of Gili Lankanfushi on the Maldives promotes a more responsible use of plastic through comprehensive initiatives. These include regular staff trainings and a strict “no plastic policy” on the island. Surrounded by the ocean, Gili Lankanfushi has long been aware of the danger that the large amount of plastic represents for the underwater world. On Global Recycling day, the resort’s marine biologists organized a special endurance event: stand up paddling, the Gili team covered impressive 14 kilometers, collecting plastic waste from the ocean surface. This way the resort stood up against the overuse of plastic on the Maldives and tried to raise awareness of this issue.

Recycling: Transforming waste into fashion

A few days before the Global Recycling Day, on March 16^th, a beach and ocean cleanup took place in Chumphon in Thailand. Led by Thailand’s Minister of Tourism and Sports, Weerasak Kowsurat, and supported by numerous volunteers and 75 divers, the project was a complete success. The initiative “Upcycling the Oceans, Thailand” operates not only on Recycling Day, but throughout the whole year. You can read more about it here on our blog.

Making optimal use of food waste

Even though Recycling Day gives particular weight to this subject, actually everyday activities make the greatest difference. Particularly in hotel business a bit of creativity is very helpful, as the CGH Earth hotels in India demonstrate. For example in the Coconut Lagoon’s biogas plant food waste is transformed into gas that is used for cooking. Eco-friendly manure for the garden is produced from the remaining slurry in combination with dry leaves. The sewage at Coconut Lagoon is treated and used for the irrigation of the garden and for toilet flushing.

Stylish furniture made from packing cases

Spice Village is very resourceful as well: it manufactures furniture for the hotel rooms from old pinewood packing cases. At Spice Village, old newspapers and magazines are given a second life as well: by means of a century-old method, using adhesive made from the crown of pineapples, they are transformed into beautiful and individual stationery – writing paper, invitations, and manuals.

Read more: WATER, THE ELIXIR OF LIFE: ON THE SUSTAINABLE HANDLING ON WORLD WATER DAY

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