How can you lighten your footprint at Earth Lab?
Earth Lab showcases our sustainability efforts to reduce consumption, produce locally and support communities and ecosystems. It serves as a place to communicate the work happening on and off site, for example marine conservation, forestry or farming initiatives, harnessing renewable energy, and bottling drinking water. It also displays our consumption data including water, energy and waste.
Join us for handy life hacks
All guests and hosts are welcome to join us and learn new techniques, such as making do-it-yourself compost and chemical-free detergent or extracting the essential oils from herbs grown in our organic gardens. Children can join in foraging, farming and recycling during Grow With Six Senses activities. For an unconventional souvenir, Earth Lab’s seed bank and “how to” videos allow guests to grow organic produce back home.
Zero Waste philosophy
Six Senses has adopted a philosophy of Zero Waste, which entails upcycling materials for innovative reuses as well a producing materials on site to reduce transportation-related impacts. For example, Six Senses Zighy Bay upcycles materials for use in spa and room amenities, while landscaping waste is fed to milk-producing goats.
Local community initiatives
We also showcase the work that takes place off site. For example, Six Senses Ninh Van Bay has assisted in a number of projects with local schools such as improving drinking water systems, and is launching a coral reef restoration program. Six Senses Fiji is also working to protect local wildlife and marine life including the endangered iguanas on Malolo Island.
Core activities are aligned across properties, with each contributing their own ways to achieve our sustainability goals:
- Water is bottled in glass on site, eliminating transportation-related impacts and single-use plastic water bottles
- Paper, bamboo and lemongrass straws are provided as alternatives to plastic ones
- Natural insecticides are distilled from plants and used as an organic alternative to chemical sprays
- Biologically active cleaning solutions are grown in batches and used to replace chemical cleaners
- Free range chickens produce organic eggs (while listening to relaxing music)
- Goats process landscaping waste and produce milk for homemade cheeses
- Food waste is composted for use in our extensive organic gardens
- Fruits and vegetables are harvested from our organic gardens as the foundation for fresh and healthy meals for guests
- Beehives are maintained for honey harvesting and to stimulate local crop growth from pollination
- Glass (where recycling is not available) is crushed and upcycled into flower pots, paving stones and light fixtures
- Renewable energy is produced from solar and biomass
- Herbal plants are harvested and distilled on-site to extract essential oils used in spa treatments
- A library of Zero Waste DIY tutorials, such as making your own toothpaste, is available online
- Seeds are harvested, kept in a seed bank, and made available for guests to take and grow at home
- Local community members are invited to learn and share traditional ecological knowledge
- Forest restoration programs are underway in local forests
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We are delighted to be one of the first signatories of the Global Tourism Plastics Initiative, part of the One Planet Sustainable Tourism Programme led by the UN Environment Programme and UN World Tourism Organization, in collaboration with the Ellen MacArthur Foundation.
Connecting to local communities
With uninhabited islands all around this remote atoll in the Maldives, Six Senses Laamu may feel like paradise lost. But it’s a brilliant place to find your calling, perhaps by contributing to community life above and below water.