Photo: Contributed

A Kelowna company has played a role in helping Vancouver’s Fairmont Pacific Rim hotel eliminate non-essential, single-use plastics.

GreenStep Solutions, which is located on Lawrence Avenue in downtown Kelowna, spent the last four years doing an extensive audit of all single-use plastics within the hotel operation. The process included removing items entirely, identifying reusable alternatives and introducing sustainable materials in their place.

“We congratulate Fairmont Pacific Rim on this challenging but important certification,” GreenStep Solutions president and CEO Angela Nagy said in a press release.

“Since 2008, we have worked with thousands of businesses across various sectors to help them on their sustainability journey and we are beyond pleased to award the first hotel this impressive certification.

“We look forward to continuing our relationship with Fairmont Pacific Rim to serve as a beacon of progress in the tourism and hospitality sector.”

The audit led to the hotel making the following moves:

• Reusable cherry wood is now used for key cards, replacing 36,000 plastic ones.
• Approximately 200,000 small bath amenity bottles used annually have been replaced with large format refillable bottles.
• The hotel will eliminate more than 1,300 pounds of plastic water bottles consumed per year by using recyclable alternatives.
• Plastic laundry bags, of which 12,500 were used per year, have been replaced with a reusable cloth alternative.
• In-room amenities such as razors, toothbrushes, cotton buds and shower caps have been replaced with environmentally friendly versions.
• All food and beverage take-away containers and cutlery have been replaced with fibre-based solutions.