This is how Plaza Beach & Dive Resort Bonaire works towards a more sustainable future
This is how Plaza Beach & Dive Resort Bonaire works towards a more sustainable future
Sustainability
Bonaire is an island that has everything to lose with poor choices. The reef off the coast is among the best protected in the world, the salt lakes attract flamingos that are nowhere else so close, and the underwater world is the reason divers keep coming back. This makes sustainability here not a marketing term but a logical necessity.
At Plaza Beach & Dive Resort Bonaire, we try to seriously give meaning to this. Not with big words, but with concrete choices in the rooms, the restaurant, the energy supply, and ties with the local community. In this article, we take you through everything we do, and why.
It starts in the rooms
Sustainability is most easily visible in the small things you use daily. In the rooms and suites of Plaza, we have heavily invested in recent years in systems that consume less without compromising your comfort.
The traditional air conditioning has been replaced with more efficient models that consume between ten and thirty percent less energy per room. They keep your room pleasantly cool, but they do require one thing from you: turn off the air conditioning when you leave the room. That small gesture makes more difference than you think.
The same applies to lighting. Led lights have been installed throughout the resort, in the restaurant, along the walkways, on the beach, and in the offices. In the hotel rooms alone, over two thousand led lights are burning. Where a traditional incandescent bulb uses forty watts, a led light does it with five. Per bulb, that seems little, but with two thousand, it adds up.
The most impressive improvement might be in the boilers. The old models consumed 3300 watts to heat 200 liters of water. The new heat pump boilers do the same with 800 watts and also heat 300 liters instead of 200. They use the warm outside air and release cold air to cool maintenance spaces. One boiler is enough to provide four Grand Suites with hot water.
Energy from the sun and the wind
Bonaire almost always has sun and almost always has wind. That combination is ideal for solar panels: the wind cools the panels, making them work more efficiently than in still air. Plaza has invested in new solar panels that will soon be installed, so a larger part of the resort's energy consumption comes directly from the sun.
Plaza is not alone in this. Within the Van der Valk group, solar panels have already been installed at twenty hotels in the Netherlands, Belgium, and Germany. Bonaire adds a location with exceptionally good conditions.
What happens in the restaurant
In an all-inclusive resort where hundreds of guests eat daily, food waste is a serious topic. Food scraps that remain after the service are not thrown away but offered to local livestock farmers on the island. That is good for the farmers, good for the animals, and good for Bonaire.
At the Palm Beach bar, we serve drinks in hard, reusable glasses. No plastic disposable cups that can blow into the sea or remain on the beach. For soft drinks, we work as much as possible with post-mix bulk packages, so the amount of cans and bottles is kept to a minimum.
Waste that still occurs is separated into glass, paper, and residual waste. On Bonaire, there is no deposit system, but Plaza neatly returns empty beer crates of Zuila to the distributor so they can be reused.
Working with the local community
Sustainability does not stop at the borders of the resort. Plaza collaborates with various organizations on the island that are committed to nature and animal welfare.
STINAPA manages the Bonaire National Marine Park and Washington Slagbaai National Park, and is responsible for the protection of a large part of the island's nature. As a guest of Plaza, you can purchase a Nature Tag at Toucan Diving. This tag is mandatory for anyone entering the water and directly contributes to the management of the marine park. Divers pay 45 dollars per person, snorkelers pay 25 dollars. The tag also provides free access to Washington Slagbaai National Park and is valid throughout the calendar year.
Fundashon Kunuku Kakelvers is a local animal shelter that is concerned with the welfare of animals on the island. Stray cats and dogs wandering around the resort are picked up and taken to the shelter, where they receive the care they need. Plaza actively supports this organization and contributed to the opening of the cat shelter in 2016.
In addition, Plaza participates in beach clean-up activities on Bonaire, including cleaning days organized by IFAW ambassador Nicolette Kluijver. Because a clean beach is not only more beautiful, it is also better for the marine life right at our doorstep.
What you can do yourself
A sustainable stay is a shared responsibility. A few small habits already go a long way. Turn off the air conditioning when you leave the room. Refill your water bottle at one of the taps in the resort. Only put the towels that really need to be washed on the floor. Purchase a Nature Tag before you go into the water. And turn off the tap while brushing your teeth.
They are small things, but on an island like Bonaire, every gesture counts.
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