TEN of the 12 Sandals/Beaches ultra-luxury resorts in Jamaica have again received instruments of re-certification from Green Globe 21, the worldwide benchmarking and certification programme for environmental standards in the travel and tourism industry.

The other two resorts, Sandals Inn and Negril Gardens are currently closed for refurbishing and as such were not audited.

The 10 resorts underwent rigorous auditing by a team from the third-party verification company SGS Jamaica, the locally registered auditing firm for the Green Globe Standard.

The scope of the auditors’ assessment involved the entire operation at the resorts including policies and procedures related to waste water and solid waste management, energy conservation, freshwater conservation, chemical management, emissions control, land use and management, biodiversity, and the company’s commitment to sustainable tourism development.

The extensive audits included interviews with members of staff as well as detailed reviews of the company’s documented and implied policies in all the areas listed.

“All Sandals/Beaches resort team members undergo continuous training as it relates to the preservation of the environment,” said Group director for environmental affairs Richard May, in comments welcoming the re-certification.

“The resorts have implemented a Four R commitment programme – Reuse, Reduce, Recycle and Rethink – with a framework developed using the ‘Triple-Bottom-Line’ approach to business sustainability. To support this, the resorts make efficient use of natural lighting, and almost everything is recycled/reused such as linen, food, paper and unused drinking water – which goes to the plants and gardens,” he said.

“Whatever cannot be recycled is diverted from the landfill through some other responsible means. Water and energy consumption is also closely monitored,” said May.

The annual re-certification costs the Sandals group tens of thousands of dollars every year, and May said it was “a tidy necessary sum” for the management/preservation and protection of the environment and for the external verification of the hotel chain.

For years, Sandals Resorts International had quietly implemented cost-saving and efficiency-based programmes and projects within its hotel operations across the Caribbean and in 1998 a new approach to operations management was taken, with the reconfiguration of the Environmental Management System module to accommodate certification to the Green Globe 21 standard for the travel and tourism industry.

Eight years later, May said, Sandals was still committed to the environmental policy of 1998, covering issues such as social support systems, hygiene, safety at the resorts and the like.

For its initiative, the company has won the annual Caribbean Green Hotel Awards three times since 2002, with Sandals Montego Bay being the 2006 recipient for their robust environmental management programmes.