Southern Sun and Miss Earth South Africa observe World Oceans Day with beach clean-up
In keeping with the World Oceans Day theme for 2023, Changing the Tides, Southern Sun and the Miss Earth South Africa Leadership Programme joined forces with 70 students from Cape Peninsula University of Technology, Visions of Change, Ardagh Glass Packaging, and Skin Renewal to clean-up at Sea Point beach in Cape Town.
“Bringing young people in to help clean up and look after their local spaces shows a commitment not only to their planet and their ocean but to their community as well.” explained Ella Bella Constantinides-Leite, Educational Officer from the Miss Earth South Africa programme, which celebrates 20 years of environmental advocacy this year. “We have to include people from all walks of life to commit to ‘people and to planet’. This planet of ours, the oceans, the lands, the animals are all resources to us, and we must nurture and protect as much as we can, not just for future generations but for now.”
Candy Tothill, head of corporate affairs, brands and marketing for Southern Sun, commented: “As a hospitality group we are mindful of sustainable sourcing practices, and we incorporate them wherever possible. For example, our commitment includes a long-standing seafood procurement policy of only serving seafood on the on SASSI green list to protect our oceans and their inhabitants.” Southern Sun’s group environmental policy includes a ban on plastic straws and stirrers, and all hotels use only straws made of paper or corn starch and stirrers made of wood. Likewise, hotel in-room amenities such as shampoos are recyclable, while ‘forget me not’ items such as razor blades are made from corn starch and wheatgrass. “Through the relatively simple act of eliminating the use of plastic straws and drink stirrers in our hotels, we can significantly reduce the amount of plastic waste entering the ocean down the chain – something we have consciously been working on for a number of years,” she said.
