HALF Moon Resort will host an eco-friendly debate for local schools, as part of this year’s celebration of Earth Day on April 22.

The 400-acre, Green Globe-certified resort is challenging local students to a discussion about the impacts, negative and positive, of tourism on the environment. Half Moon will reward the top schools with monetary prizes.

The debate is intended to raise awareness of critical environmental issues facing the travel industry today, while encouraging Jamaican students to become environmentally active.

“We are extremely proud of our commitment to protecting the environment and supporting our local communities. We purchase 90 per cent of our food from local providers and employ skilled artisans from the community. We also give back to local neighbourhoods by recycling by-products from our carpentry and furniture shops into children’s toys, among other initiatives,” noted Richard Whitfield, Half Moon’s managing director, in a release to the media.

The resort continues to play its part in helping to preserve the environment and has integrated a variety of “green” practises into its everyday operations. They include:

. a towel reuse programme and the recycling of old beach towels to make wash rags for cleaning;

. the use of shredded papers as packing material for guests transporting craft items. The papers are also sold to funeral homes for casket stuffing;

. the use of saw dust from the furniture shop to the Equestrian Centre to be used as horse bedding; and

. the use of horse manure to condition soil in the nursery gardens.

“Old batteries are sent to a battery dealer, waste oil is sent to a factory to be used in the manufacturing of poultry feed and waste auto oil is used in the manufacturing of biodiesel, the release added. “High wattage light bulbs are replaced with low-energy ones and the resort’s waste water treatment plant generates over 130,000 gallons of water per day that is used to hose down the 400-acre property.”

Half Moon also offers an eco-friendly wedding package. The “Just the Two of Us – Green Wedding Package” features a wedding ceremony, bouquet and boutonniere, private dinner for two and breakfast in bed based on a minimum of six nights. Newly-weds receive an environmental tour of Half Moon and plant a tree together at a seedling planting ceremony. Half Moon also donates floral arrangements from the wedding to local hospitals in Jamaica.

In 1999, the Caribbean Hotel Association inducted Half Moon into the Green Hotel Hall of Fame. The resort is also a member of the “Green” Hotels Association.

Half Moon is a luxury resort situated on crescent-shaped white sand beaches, with 398 rooms, including suites, cottages and villas. In addition to luxurious accommodations, the property also features a recently renovated Robert Trent Jones Sr-designed 18-hole golf course, the Half Moon Golf Academy, 13 lit tennis courts, equestrian centre, fitness centre, 51 swimming pools, recently constructed Anancy Children’s Village, water sports, over 27,000 square feet of flexible indoor meeting space, a Dolphin Lagoon, and a 24-hour medical centre.