Is Your Spa Green and Eco-Friendly?

Find Out if Your Spa is Really Green

If you go to a spa, either on holiday or at home, it’s good to know if they use sustainable and green practices.

Spa are often located in environmentally sensitive beaches, deserts and mountains .

Many spas claim to not only promote health and well-being but also to be ‘sustainable’ and ‘natural’.

But do they still use bleach in the hot tub, dry-clean their robes, and offer lotions containing parabens?

It’s more than just “we recycle”. It’s a whole process, and should have been carefully thought through by the spa management.

Hint: if the spa serves bottled water to its clients, it definitely not green.

Tip: their lotions may sound wonderful with ingredients such as aloe and ginger – but are there chemicals lurking in there too?

How Can You Check If Your Spa is Green?

The best way is to simply ask!

To make it easy, here is a list of questions.  I suggest you find the most important issues for YOU, and narrow it down to 4 – 6 questions. Their answers will give you a very clear idea of how green they really are!

1. Water: How do you conserve water? (e.g. limit the amount of washing by reducing the use of towels).  Do you serve bottled water to your clients? Do you use durable plates, cups and flatware or cutlery?
2. Waste Water:  How do you treat waste water?  (For example, coral and other wildlife can be destroyed by hotels pumping effluent out to sea).
3. Products:  Do you use eco-friendly or organic products, treatments, cosmetics, and soap?  Are they high-quality products free from laurel sulphate, parabens and other toxins?  What about your bulk soap and shampoo dispensers?  Is the massage oil organic?
4. Linen:  What do you use for your sheets, towels, and robes?  (e.g. organic cotton, bamboo or soy)
5. Cleaning: do you use green cleaning products throughout the spa?
6. Local: How do you connect with your community? Do you source products locally, employ local people, get involved in local upliftment projects? What percentage of total employees are local people are employed, and are any in management positions?  What percentage of produce and services are sourced from within 25km or 15 miles of the spa?
7. Culture:  What information and advice is provided to tourists on local cultures and customs?
8. Pride:  Describe the single contribution to environmental conservation or local people that you are most proud of.
9. Policy:  Do you have a written policy on sustainability? If it’s not written down (‘yeah, we do all that stuff ‘) then it probably means they are not taking it seriously.
10. Heating and Cooling: How do you heat and cool your building?
11. Energy:  Do you use renewable energy for all or part of your energy requirements? (e.g. solar power).
12. Your Feeling:  (If you don’t know the spa, ask for a tour).  Use your own senses. Does the spa feel natural? Are the carpets and upholstery off-gassing?  Is there plenty of fresh air?

Now that you know if your spa is green and eco friendly, what about you?

Going green at the spa is about changing your own behaviour, too!

Click here for 5 quick things YOU can do to go green at the spa.

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