Six Senses Fiji sets benchmark for sustainability

We’ve all read about “sustainable tourism.” In a Green Biz piece last year, Hawaiian Electric Co. CEO Alan Oshima said, “What sells Hawaii in my mind are the people, the culture, the beauty. Now, I think sustainability is a big selling point.”

Oshima is surely onto something. However, in Fiji they are not just talking about “selling” sustainable tourism.

My co-writer, Rob Kay, had a chance to inspect a new resort called Six Senses Fiji, which he’s convinced is setting the benchmark for sustainability in the Pacific. The Bangkok-based company that opened the resort in April manages 15 properties around the world. It is obsessed with reducing its carbon footprint and uses the bragging rights to market its product.

The company’s policy is to conserve energy and, wherever possible, keep packaging to an absolute minimum. On the boat ride over to the resort, which is on Malolo island offshore from Nadi, Kay sat next to Jonathan Heath, the company’s food and beverage director. Heath was visiting from headquarters to ensure that the property was off to a good, green start.

As the boat powered across the sea, the resort executive showed Kay photos on his smartphone that depicted produce wrapped in plastic. “We don’t want this,” he said. “We want our produce shipped in reusable plastic containers.”

At this high-end Fiji property, Heath said, the company won’t stock Fiji Water, which has become a status symbol among consumers. In the eyes of environmentalists, Fiji Water, or any type of bottled water, is a symbol of waste. At Six Senses the resort manages its own reverse osmosis plant and water refinery without the use of plastic bottles.

Six Senses properties all have the aim of self-sustained food and beverage on the island. Kay was driven around the property on an electric golf cart and shown the beginnings of its fruit and vegetable garden including citrus trees, bananas, pineapple and a gaggle of chickens housed in a temporary coop. Once the permanent coop is established, guests will be able to retrieve their own eggs.

Said Heath, “If we can’t grow it,we source our produce locally. If we can’t get it locally, we’ll get it from the nearest foreign port.” Even the gift shop promotes the sales of Fiji-sourced products, including crafts made in local villages by a nongovernmental organization called Rise Beyond the Reef.

In addition to the environmental aspects of sustainability, Six Senses has a progressive social agenda. It gives preference to employing locals, and its chief sustainability officer, Jessie Matai, is Fijian, as are several other managers.

Waste management was not made short shrift of, either. Six Senses Fiji uses a septic system with Biolytix tanks “manned” by tiger worms which turn the waste into humus, which then cleanses the wastewater.

Water is treated on-site in a dedicated plant for use as gray water in the island’s irrigation system. A dedicated recycling center on the property separates waste into paper, plastic, metal, glass, organic waste and toxic waste. Food waste from the kitchen and restaurants is combined with garden waste for composting.

The other staple of tropical resorts, the air conditioning system, uses low-environmental-impact refrigerant. The temperature is set at 77 degrees Fahrenheit prior to guest arrival and is equipped with a sensor to automatically switch off the air conditioning once the doors are opened.

Swimming pools, which are synonymous with resorts, use low-power filtration systems.

Everything electric is powered by a photovoltaic system which, combined with a Tesla battery array, ensures that the entire resort is 100 percent solar powered and, hence, off the grid. Any excess power is used for the desalination plant.

Kay powered back to the main island of Viti Levu, on the resort boat, very impressed.

It begs the question, Is any resort in Hawaii close to matching Six Senses Fiji?

I suspect not.

Mike Meyer is chief information officer for Honolulu Community College. Reach him at mmeyer@hawaii.edu.