Doing what we can to help protect the environment we live and work in. Sustainability and the environment is always in the forefront of our minds and never has it been more important to be responsible as a company within the environment we live and work in. We are fortunate enough to live and work in the Alps. In particular in two of the most famous and most beautiful regions of the Alps;
The 3 Valleys in France and the Arlberg in Austria.
We are proud that our ‘home resorts’ offer us a playground in summer and winter to really reap the rewards personally and professionally. We are also proud of the effort they make towards a more sustainable and environmentally friendly region.
Courchevel: In 2007, Courchevel joined the national charter for sustainable development in mountain resorts. The membership conveys the resort’s strong commitment to sustainable tourism, in other words, tourism that is sustainable in the long term, ecologically and economically, as well as being ethically and socially fair, especially for local residents. You can read more about that by clicking here.
St Anton: Since 2006 St Anton has benefited from its own hydro electric station, meaning the whole resort is self sustainable for electricity. A new bio-mass plant now means that sustainable heated water will be readily available throughout the town. Making chemical free artificial snow offers huge benefits to the whole of the region and an extensive waste recycling plant means that almost everything is recycled. Recently St Anton has signed up to the Climate Change Adaptation Model Regions for Austria for its sustainable development. You can read more about it all by clicking here
What can we do to help…
Within our very own working environment we attempt, wherever possible to be sustainably responsible and hold our working environment in very high regard. We can do our bit to help…
In the Chalets we operate:
Plastic: Cutting the amount of single use plastic in the chalets. No plastic straws, no plastic folders, no plastic gimmicks. Insisting that suppliers deliver products with no or limited plastic packaging. Plastic that is used, is recycled. We provide water bottles for guests and the alpine tap water is some of the cleanest and freshest anywhere in the world – to reduce the need for plastic bottles. We use ‘sodastream’ machines to supply fizzy mineral water so as not to buy excess plastic or glass bottles.
Linen / Laundry: By making our guests aware of the environmental impact of increased laundry use. Encouraging our guests to keep their towels and linen for the whole week, as opposed to daily changes.
Local Suppliers: Explaining our sustainability charter to them and asking that we are supplied with local, organic food wherever possible, that packaging of products supplied is kept to a minimum and that suppliers also follow a safe sustainable charter.
Haglofs: Our partner and uniform supplier is a leading manufacturer in carbon free and recycled quality ski wear, with its very own sustainability charter:
Bio Waste: Our chefs undergo a training programme before employment and we are committed to reducing and minimising food waste as much as possible. We have guest consultations about food and menu planning to help offer guests exactly what they want and reduce food waste. Chefs are experts in menu and meal planning so waste is kept to a minimum and all food produce is used. Any excess waste is collected weekly in the bio-waste bins and recycled accordingly.
General Recycling: Austria is excellent at recycling and France is catching up. We see it as our responsibility to ensure that wherever feasibly possible, all recyclable materials are indeed recycled. Extra trips to the tip and recycling plants help ensure that all recycling is done twice a week.
Cleaning / room cleaning: The same as the linen and laundry. The more we clean, the more carbon footprint we leave and potential detergents/chemicals we use. We offer the guests the option for daily room cleaning , which is done on request and by demand.
Digital: Wherever possible we are reducing the amount of paper in the chalets – digital checkins, digital info, digital invoicing in an effort to reduce potential waste and offer more sustainability.
The Office:
Flexible working: We have a flexible working hours policy for all office staff. Helping to work from home, be more flexible and also reduce carbon footprints.
Recycling: An office initiative to separate the waste and recycle weekly.
Digital: Digital invoicing reducing the need for waste paper. Digital communications and a new on line concierge to help improve communications and further reduce the footprint.
Sustainability Partners & Donations
We are a proud partner of Protect Our Winters (POW UK) and make a yearly donation in order to help the cause , add strength to their voice and support by taking the pledge to become more sustainable. In POW’s own words:
We help passionate outdoor people become effective climate advocates to achieve systemic solutions to climate change, protecting our world today and for future generations.
As enthusiastic outdoor people, we harness our connection to wild places as a force for positive change. We’re a loud, energetic, and insistent outdoor community that influences climate policy to protect the places we love. We see climate breakdown happening in our playgrounds, and we’re communicating that message to policymakers.
The Alps, the mountains have been our playground for many many years and companies like Kaluma can help to influence a positive change. We want to work with and within our resorts and we want to educate our team on the climate crisis and what we can do to help.
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