Costa Navarino switches to “No Plastic”
“Guests expect us to tackle the plastic problem.” According to Guest Relation Manager Nicole Gerometta, the Costa Navarino resort has now solved the plastic bottle problem. At the beginning of 2023, the Greek resort’s four golf courses switched to single-use, plastic-free operation “because we were aware of our responsibility and because guests have come to expect it.”
The conversion process
In principle, the tap water in Costa Navarino is of drinking water quality anyway and can, therefore, be drunk without hesitation. The resort’s tests with water specialists document this. To improve the taste of the water, filters were installed to reduce its hardness.
Water stations on the course and in the clubhouses
On all four golf courses, there are refill stations after every three holes where guests can fill up their water bottles. The water is cooled, constantly renewed, and checked for quality. 40 to 60 litres per day are removed from each, for a total of around 1500 litres per course per day. There is also a large water source in each clubhouse. The employees also fill their water bottles here. Plastic bottles are also no longer used in the clubhouse offices.
Sale of drinking bottles
Golfers have the opportunity to buy 0.75-liter drinking bottles in the proshop. The price is five euros per bottle, which is the resort’s cost. “Many golfers now have their bottles anyway,” says Nicole Gerometta. If you don’t want to use a refillable drinking bottle, use the paper cups at the stations. These are then recycled.
No-plastic communication
Communication on the subject of no plastic was not always easy. While the feedback from the guest segment is consistently positive, and the changeover has been accepted without any problems, local golfers turned out to be the most difficult target group. “In Greece, the issue of plastic is not yet as important to the population as it is in other countries. That’s why we had to do the most convincing work here. However, everyone is now happy,” Gerometta sums up.
Golfers will find a detailed overview of all the water stations on a map showing all the filling stations throughout the resort. A counter on the large water filling stations in the clubhouses also shows exactly how many plastic bottles have already been saved.
Cooperation with the WWF
In addition to the various sports facilities, Costa Navarino also has four hotels. According to Gerometta, these are not operated directly by Costa Navarino. This is why the sustainability program looks different in each case. At the Westin Hotel, for example, the plastic bottles that used to be common in the guest rooms have already been replaced. This was part of a joint initiative with WWF Greece, in which it was decided to reduce the proportion of plastic in all areas of the TEMES parent company’s operations.
In 2021, the first year of the collaboration with WWF, the company already managed to reduce the number of plastic bottles, 211,000 straws, almost 400,000 plastic cups and caps, 52,000 food containers, 10,000 plastic spoons and 41,700 plastic sticks. As a result, plastic waste was already reduced by 2.3 tons back then. Costa Navarino is also part of the United Nation’s Global Tourism Plastics Initiative.
