The ceremony is organised by the Federated Hospitality Association of Southern Africa (FEDHASA) and awards tourism businesses that demonstrates suitable responsible practice in their operations in terms of their natural, social and economic environments.
"Our journey towards becoming environmentally sustainable forms a crucial tenet of our operations and we are honoured to receive this award recognising our commitment. We are dedicated to serving our valued customers with a professional and caring attitude, simultaneously ensuring that we preserve our heritage for generations to come," says Graham Wood, MD of Southern Sun Hotels.
In the category best single resource management programme-waste-group, the Southern Sun Waterfront Hotel received the Imvelo and the Southern Sun Garden Court Eastern Boulevard in Cape Town was a finalist. The Southern Sun Waterfront hotel embarked on a journey of establishing a permanent and all embracing focus on responsible business management, with the environment a firm priority. In conjunction with Soil-for-Life, a food waste composting enterprise, and ZTL (Zero to Landfill Organics), the hotel team has had ongoing training involving all kitchen and service staff, to initiate the waste separation process at source. The entire team has been formally trained by waste management companies on the culture of waste reduction and recycling.
The Drakensburg Sun Lifestyle Resort remains one of the most sustainable hospitality operations in the country and was also the winner of three 2011 Imvelo awards, the best practice-economic impact-group, the best single resource management programme-energy-waste-water-group and the best overall environmental management system-group.
Over the past five years the resort has demonstrated a workable, sustainable and internationally competitive environmental management system that overarches almost all aspects of its operations. Water management is integral to the operational activities of this resort. It operates its own water treatment facility that has been proven to add to the downstream quality of water, while its involvement with the Working with Water project continues to result in increased river flow through the property.
