Green Initiative at SeaShell Hotels & Resorts in Andaman Islands

Taking care of our planet – one green initiative at a time!

We, at Seashells, have made the mindful choice that every act, purchase and decision is made keeping in mind, heart and soul our largest investment – our planet.

Believing greatly in the soul of nature and its abundance on offer, Seashells Hotels Resorts and Spa has been making great changes. We ensure all our garbage bags are biodegradable, no plastic disposable straws, plates or bottles are sourced through us, every drop of water is generated and accounted for by us, and the trash that once lined our beaches is removed from the shores of our island every single day.

We, at Seashell Hotels & Resort, choose to act, taking endless initiatives and leading, by example, the tourism industry towards our cause to reduce, reuse and recycle as much as we possibly can in the Andaman Islands.

Our guests have lauded and appreciated our efforts to conserve our planet without compromising on luxury, class, or comfort. We have received accolades that include the Customer Choice Award from Make My Trip, the Certificate of Excellence and Travelers’ Choice Award from TripAdvisor, and the Customer Reviews Award from Agoda.

All five of our properties are ISO 9001 and 22000 certified and accredited by SAATHI (Ministry of Tourism), Govt. of India.

When we found that turtles once nested on the beaches of Neil Island but stopped due to the enormous amount of garbage that the ocean currents and tourists brought with them, we decided it was time to act.

We have employed in-house staff whose sole job it is to clean our beaches. They are at work from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. and can be seen picking up trash and segregating it before disposing of it in the correct bins. This trash is then organised and sent off from the remote islands to the capital city, Port Blair, from where we have tied up with self-help groups to take what is valuable and recyclable out of the fragile archipelago.

During our ongoing efforts in 2019, we noticed that plastic bottles had become the largest polluter of these pristine waters and so we lobbied to help in its banning by providing sustainable alternatives through our potable water ATMs. These water dispensers can be found on the most visited public tourist spots across Neil Island, namely the Jetty, Bharatpur Beach, and Natural Bridge and now has been implemented

We have also refused to serve PET-bottled water, as we thoroughly filter our water through an extensive process. We first catch rainwater in our underground sumps, which have a capacity of 3 lakh litres. This water is treated through a filtration process of sand, activated charcoal, water softeners, and UV, and then further goes through reverse osmosis plants, which treat it for drinking and cooking. We then serve it in glass bottles to our guests.

Even our shower water goes through our filtration and UV systems. Grey water is reused for our garden, for which fertilisers come from Vermicompost pits that utilise all the wet waste generated by our kitchens.

We also found that plastic generated from each hotel through disposable vanity kits like shampoos and conditioners was posing a significant threat to our fragile marine ecosystem; hence, we switched to wall-mounted hand wash, body wash, and shampoo dispensers in the washrooms to eliminate all disposable amenities that come in miniature plastic bottles that end up inside unsuspecting marine and birdlife.

Environment-friendly cleaning products, solar water heaters, LED lighting and green diesel generators, along with the utilisation of green architecture and contact-less digital check-in at all five of our properties, are just some of our energy conservation methods.

Through our initiatives, we strive to ensure we do not burden our islands with our requirements for waste, water, or electricity. Our company is 100% self-sustaining and aims to pave the way for all others who choose to leave zero carbon footprints in the sands of time along our shorelines.

We wish you a pleasant stay and a wonderful vacation with us, knowing that we are doing everything to take care of these islands for you and future generations to visit.