Resort bags green award again

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SHANGRI-LA’S Rasa Sayang Resort and Spa in Penang has clinched the biennial Asean Green Hotel Award for the fourth consecutive time at the Asean Tourism Forum in Manado, Indonesia.

Proud achievement: Rasa Sayang Resort and Spa staffers posing with the Asean Green Hotel Award 2012-2014 at the resort's newly set-up bottling plant.

The award is one of six Asean Tourism Standards considered essential for helping the 10 members of the regional grouping be-come world-class, quality destinations.

The coveted honour is given to a hotel which is environment-friendly and adopts energy con-servation measures based on the 11 criteria and 25 requirements of the Asean Green Hotel Standard.

Among them were the environmental policy and actions for hotel operation, use of green products, provision for training programmes for operation on environmental management, collaboration with the community and local organisations as well as solid waste management, energy efficiency and water efficiency.

Only 10 hotels in Malaysia including Rasa Sayang Resort and Spa have successfully met these standards up to date,

“We are proud to be continuously recognised by the Asean Green Hotel Standard and such achievements further strengthen our motivation to operate on a greener path which benefits all our guests, colleagues and the community,” said resort general manager Elaine Yue on Monday.

She said the resort’s green ini-tiatives included the annual Earth Hour celebration and the setting up of the Turtle Eco Centre in collaboration with the Turtle Information and Conservation Centre.

“In the pipeline is the resort’s bottling plant while we also get our staff and guests involved in our environmentally friendly practices as well as take part in the annual International Penang Coastal Clean-up project,” she added.

Other green measures are also being practised in the resort’s daily operations to minimise impact on the environment.

The switch from diesel-burning boilers to heat pumps completely eliminated the need to use diesel fuel and this has brought certification from Sirim which acknowledges Rasa Sayang as a role model for energy conservation and energy efficiency practices.