The Sarojin waves goodbye to single-use plastics

March 1, 2023
Sustainable Bathroom Amenities at The Sarojin

We did it! The Sarojin has waved goodbye to single-use plastics for good and we couldn’t be happier about it!

sustainabilty at The SarojinAt The Sarojin we are firm believers of tourism as a force of good, not only for the benefit of the local community but equally for the environment. When visiting Khao Lak, we quickly fell in love with the area, its undisturbed natural landscape, local cultures and people and shortly after that decided it would make the perfect location of our boutique resort (you can read the story of The Sarojin here). We wanted The Sarojin to become a reference for luxury stays in the area, but with a mission to do so in the most responsible manner possible to help preserve what is a piece of paradise to us. After all, we believe that being a provider of responsible tourism and luxury tourism are not mutually exclusive.

Since we opened in 2005, we have been working hard to ensure that we give back and positively contribute to the local community and the environment by employing locally and sourcing produce locally as much as possible, launching initiatives such as ‘One Booking One Tree’ (our most recent) and ‘Sarojin Cares’ volunteering days, setting up a community fund (The Sarojin Khao Lak Community Fund) and a lot more.

As years passed, we started to become more and more aware of the impact generated by single-use plastics and global plastic pollution and started working on a plan to put an end to single-use plastic at our resort and make our contribution to sustainability at The Sarojin.

First to go was the straw, which we substituted for lemongrass straws followed by the introduction of bamboo disposable cutlery. Next were plastic water bottles in all residences and meeting rooms. This took some planning and saving as we decided that we would operate our own on-site water bottling plant so that we could treat and bottle the water ourselves from the resort’s own water supply. For this to happen, we invested US$50,000 in the new on-site water bottling plant (a considerable sum of money for a small property like ours), which commenced operations in 2019. Thanks to the bottling plan, from 2019 to 2022, we estimate to have saved 132,000 plastic bottles. However, we knew there was room for improvement as there were instances where plastic bottles were still used such as airport transfers, excursions and Lady Sarojin Boat trips and our amenities were one-use, so we introduced refillable aluminium water bottles for all our guests and replaced our amenities with refillable dispensers. 

sustainabilty at The SarojinNow all our guests are provided with a complimentary aluminium water bottle at check in to use during their stay and take home if they wish. Several refill stations have been installed throughout the resort´s grounds (with water we treated!) for guests to top up their bottles as needed with a choice of normal water and a selection of flavour infused waters available, including jasmine flower and lime on Mondays and green apple and thyme on Sundays.

For our amenities, all have been replaced with stylish ceramic refillable dispensers. We continue to use the luxurious products by the sustainable skincare brand JUKU, which use the finest natural ingredients including some of the most exquisite essential oils and herb extracts. The selection of aromatic products available at The Sarojin includes rosemary and lavender shampoo, rosemary and lavender conditioner, lavender and tea tree body wash, patchouli bath foam, patchouli and charcoal bath salts and lavender body lotion.

And like that, we are able to say we are free of single-use plastics at The Sarojin!

But the work we do to reduce plastic pollution will not stop at our resort… since introducing the reusable water bottles, we have been able to donate 100 to a local orphanage home (Bann Tharn Namjai) alongside other necessaries such as food and toiletries. In the picture is Residence Manager-Operations Khun Kade with guests Domhnall and Stefanie, who celebrated their honeymoon with us and also accompanied the team on the ‘Sarojin Cares’ volunteering activity to donate the goods and bottles to the orphanage, something we welcome all our guests to join.

We are committed to developing, learning and introducing new ways to make sure our operations are as responsible as possible. You can stay up to date about what we are up to here .