“I cannot control the world, but I can control my world.” That’s what Christian de Boer told me in a recent conversation. Our world needs more like him. Originally from The Netherlands, Christian is now Managing Director of Jaya House River Park, a 36-room hotel in Siem Reap, Cambodia.
Those who know their history know that Cambodia was a terrible place to be in the 1970s. Cambodia remains one of the poorest, least developed countries in Asia, but life is getting better Christian told me. “I have been in the country 11 years,” he said. “The changes have been unbelievable.”
With economic progress comes the potential for pollution and that is what Christian is focused on—specifically plastic water bottle pollution. In a place where you just can’t drink from the tap, plastic water bottles are everywhere—along roadways, in waterways, in landfills and in rice fields and gardens. Few bottles are recycled as the facilities for doing so are virtually non-existent. Christian says there are not necessarily more plastic bottles there than here in the States; it is just that we do a better job of hiding them.
Seeing the plastic bottle problem and how tourism contributes to it, Christian launched a campaign to get businesses throughout the region to offer refillable aluminum water bottles instead of disposable plastic ones. The campaign, called Refill Not Landfill, has already avoided the placement of 1.2 million plastic bottles into Cambodia’s waste stream. More than 40 members of Siem Reap’s hospitality and tourism industries and development sector have joined ReFill Not Landfill.
QR Code on Each Bottle
As mentioned, knowing where to get clean, drinkable water is critical in Cambodia. Refill Not Landfill solves this by listing refill stations on the aluminum bottles. There is also a QR code placed on each bottle. Once scanned using a mobile device, a list of refill stations is presented. There are now 85 locations in Cambodia where tourists can go for bottle fill-ups. Outside of Cambodia, there are hundreds more locations.
“Refill Not Landfill is solely aimed at the tourism industry,” Christian says. “It is a start. It is the beginning of change. It really is so simple.”
From an initial launch location in Siem Reap, the program has expanded to other cities in Cambodia, as well as Laos, Vietnam and Myanmar.
Jaya House River Park has partnered with Coola-Products for its bottles. At first the aluminum bottle cost $9 each but by joining with other local businesses de Boer has gotten the price down to a more reasonable $3.10. The cost of a room night at Jaya House River Park has been increased $1 to cover the cost. A typical guest stay is several nights. “It has brought revenue to participating hotels,” Christian says.
Millions of Plastic Bottles Will be Avoided
One refillable aluminum bottle can last up to four years or more. Even assuming a life span of just three years, a single bottle can replace as many as 4,380 plastic bottles. The Refill Not Landfill campaign has already received orders for 65,000+ bottles, and rising, representing a potential saving of 175,200,000 plastic bottles over the next four years.
At Jaya House River Park, a reverse osmosis system is used to purify water. In guestrooms at the property, water is offered in refillable glass bottles.
What Christian is doing in his part of the world has quickly had a significant, positive impact. Why not do the same at your property, in your town or region?
If you have a successful reusable bottle program in place, I would love to learn about it. What have your challenges been? What has made your program successful? I can be reached at editor@greenlodgingnews.com.
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