JORNEY TOWARDS ZERO WASTE- THIS PAST WEEK 69% OF OUR 'WASTE' WAS RECYCLED, UP-CYCLED OR USED.

Pie chart showing the percentages of various waste types produced in the week. (See Key below)

The journey towards zero waste has been a long one that we at The Sands at Nomad started in 2005 with the removal of all plastic water bottles from use at the hotel, glass (refillable) bottles were used and guests are encouraged to order water carafes instead. This was the beginning.. 14 years ago!

Since then we have tried to find ways to re-use, recycle or up-cycle the 'waste' that we produce.. and part of the reason for this blog is to record our progress in a hope that others can find it useful and maybe even look to do the same. 'Zero' waste is a dream.. but 'towards' zero waste is a necessity if we are to leave a living world for the future generations.

1	FRUIT AND VEG	COMPOSTED/CHICKENS
2	HEAVY PLASTICS	RECYCLED
3	PAPERS AND CARDBOARD	INCINERATED
4	METALS	RECYCLED
5	GLASS	USED OR RECYCLED
6	PROTIENS/STARCH/CARBS	WATCH THIS SPACE!

'WASTE' PRODUCED THIS PAST WEEK IN KILOGRAMS FROM THE HOTEL TWO KITCHENS, FOUR HOUSES TWO BARS, OFFICES,  STORES, THE DIVE CENTRE AND A RESTAURANT SERVING A MAJORITY OF PEOPLE FROM OUTSIDE.

FRUIT AND VEGETABLES                              665

HEAVY PLASTICS                                               35

PAPER AND CARDBOARD                                49

METAL                                                                  13

BROKEN GLASS                                                 4.5

PROTIENS/STARCHES/CARBOHYDRATES  337

RESULTS- 69% OF WASTE FROM THIS PAST WEEK HAS BEEN USED, UP-CYCLED OR RECYCLED! 

Be aware of your waste- where does it end up? what damage does it do?.. how can it be useful to you? THINK GREEN!

HOW TO RE-USE SINGLE USE SOFT PLASTICS (PACKAGING, WRAPPERS, BUBBLE WRAP ETC)

The final product- Kanga cushion covers reused and Dive bags made into outdoor cushions. 

Did you know that The Sands at Nomad’s re-uses old diving bags and cushion covers from the restaurant when these need replacing and we also have found a use for soft single use plastic packaging. 

Single use plastics, like straws, plastic cups, plastic bags, beer can wrappers, bubble wrap and shrink wrap are some of the most environmentally detrimental trash items when thrown away, (out of sight out of mind?- NO!) These light plastics are easily blown in the wind, they get caught on bushes and trees, they are eaten by animals which then die, the plastics degrade into micro-plastic which will continue to harm our environment for decades. If this plastic is burnt it puts toxic, carsinogenic fumes into the air around us. 

In recent times there has been some progress made in finding ways to reuse this single use plastics without putting in huge amounts of energy doing so. Here at the Sands we have been collecting single use 'soft' plastic packaging from Diani super markets, storing it, and then using it to stuff old pillows. This plastic stuffing costs no money, the cushions also cost nothing.. but now we have hundreds of pillows which, if re-covered occasionally, will last for ever.

The Sands, Thinking Green.

BEACH CLEAN-UPS- International Coastal Clean-up 2019

It's been another year since the International Coastal clean-up day. The Sands at Nomad and Diving the Crab has done its bit again to keep the beaches clean and raise awareness.

One of the inaccessible beach coves south of Kinondo

On Monday 16th of October Diving the Crab donated the use of their diving boat 'Mwezi' for three hours so that the inaccessible beaches between Kinondo and Chale Island could be cleaned of trash.

Staff from Diving the Crab doing the beach clean

This year's collection was over two hundred and seventy kilograms of plastic, two kilograms of glass and one kilogram of metals. From having done this clean-up for a number of years now it is clear that the greatest bulk of the trash floating in our ocean is plastic water bottles, this is followed by Polystyrene (an environmental disaster) and rubber shoes.

The world wide beach clean-up day is this coming Saturday the 21st of September, it is happening all over the world. The trash collected worldwide will be weighed and the results sent to a central data collection point which, over time and years will allow us to better understand the levels of trash in the oceans and whether worldwide efforts towards environmental awareness and sustainability are working.

Get out there, do your bit. There is no planet B.