SUSTAINABILITY
We are keenly aware of our responsibility to protect the limited natural resources on our island that both directly and indirectly provide so much to our international guests and our local community. Sustainability practices are driving factors through all our resort operations to support energy conservation, waste reduction, and water conservation. We actively look for opportunities to responsibly expand our Green Initiatives across all sectors that will support our resort, the local environment and economy. To that end we have implemented several practices to conserve and reduce our footprint while encouraging guest education and involvement.
Greenhouses
In addition to supporting local fishermen and farmers, we continued to advance our efforts to provide farm-to-table dining opportunities for our guests by constructing our first greenhouse at Coconut Bay in 2016 followed by a second in 2017. Starting with an investment of EC$120,000, and adding to it since then, the bounty from both greenhouses benefit our 9 restaurants across both resorts serving seasonal crops including organic tomatoes, lettuce, peppers, micro greens, zucchini, green beans, eggplant, and herbs harvested daily by our culinary team. Our talented team of chefs are able to combine the produce from our greenhouses along with other locally sourced provisions into many of our tasty signature dishes.
Plant Propagation
Once a coconut plantation, there are over a thousand palm trees here at Coconut Bay and we continue to preserve our natural landscape with a policy of translocating our coconut palms never cutting them down. Over the years we have transplanted hundreds of trees at different locations throughout our resorts. We are rewarded with a fresh bounty of coconuts used in many delicious treats for our guests to enjoy during their stay from coconut water served at many of our bars to coconut milk and coconut oil used in our spa to coconut ice cream and coconut shavings used in our desserts. Our abundance of coconuts is also used in our CocoLand Kidz Klub where husks are recycled as canvases to inspire little artists and small coconuts are used for games and crafts.
Earth Day Every Day
Our staff members come together on Earth Day to participate in beach, road and park clean-up exercises along with planting trees at the resort. These efforts continue throughout the year as we continue to add and transplant new palms around our 85 acres along with the help of our brides and grooms who plant new trees in our “Love Patch” to commemorate their weddings. For the benefit of our young guests, we have also propagated fruit trees at the CocoLand Kidz Klub including almond, orange, papaya, mango and star fruit. This juicy group of trees are intended for our young guests to taste, enjoy and learn about during their stay with the hopes it will inspire a love of our unique local vegetation.
As the caretakers of our mile-long stretch of beach, our team works not only to maintain a stunning landscape but to sustain its precious resources. To help fight erosion, we have strategically added berms along stretches of our beach. We have also built retaining walls and added sand reclaimed from dried seaweed back to the beach to assist in fighting the increased erosion due to climate change.
Rooftop Rainwater Harvesting System
Water is a precious and limited resource on our small island and Coconut Bay’s Rooftop Rainwater Harvesting System, installed in 2011, helps us meet daily water demands to maintain our five swimming pools and the CocoLand Waterpark. Our rooftops have been fitted with gutters and downpipes to catch rainwater, propelling it to two, 8,000-gallon underground storage tanks. After it is filtered and chlorinated it is used to help keep our swimming pools filled. In addition, grey water is used to irrigate the landscaping and gardens on our beautiful 85-acres.
Fertilizer, Compost, Biofuel
We have a collection of resident animals, some making their home at the Coco Corral for rescued animals which opened in 2014. The donkey and horse manure are collected and used as fertilizer throughout the property.
More recently with the occasional influx of Sargassum Seaweed throughout the Caribbean due to climate change, we collect the Sargassum when it comes ashore and compost some for use as fertilizer.
Our team works diligently to keep food waste to a minimum but with nine restaurants catering to our guests on a daily basis, there will always be trimmings and byproducts. Our used cooking oil is recycled by a partner into biofuel while vegetable products are composted and used for fertilizer and planting. In addition some kitchen waste is also allocated for distribution to local livestock farming enterprises.
Energy Conservation
Being energy efficient has many benefits from environmental to economic and with 250 guest rooms, multiple restaurant kitchens, offices and more we strive to find ways in every department to conserve resources.
One important way we stay energy efficient is by using a Heat Exchanger linking the water heating system and the cooling system for the air conditioning units in our guest rooms and throughout the resort. We also use a high-efficiency Inverter Air Conditioning technology to maintain cool temperatures while being eco-friendly – and quiet.
Using a Salt Chlorine Generator allows us to convert salt water into a stream of chlorine and back to salt water to keep our CocoLand Waterpark and Splash Pad clean and disinfected.
Light-emitting diode (LED) is a highly energy-efficient lighting technology, and we use LED for all the lighting in our five swimming pools and where possible in room and restaurant lighting. Solar powered LED lights are also installed throughout our grounds and walkways.
MAKING A DIFFERENCE IS THE COCONUT BAY WAY
RESPONSIBILITY
Coconut Bay is a socially conscious corporate citizen, actively involving staff, stakeholders, and guests in community engagement. Our philanthropic efforts for the past 18 years have improved the lives of the less fortunate, elderly, and youth in Vieux Fort and other southern Saint Lucia villages. Our mission prioritizes the welfare of the environment, finances, and society.
CONSERVATION
To further promote turtle conservation, Coconut Bay has taken additional steps to educate both staff and international guests. We have placed signs and posters throughout the resort highlighting the three species of turtles that nest on our beach and steps guests can take to support turtle conservation. This initiative demonstrates our commitment to promoting environmental education and protecting the local ecosystem.