Four Seasons Asia Pacific is partnering with ecoSPIRITS to combat waste from single-use glass bottles.
The world is expected to go through more than 40 billion glass bottles of spirits in 2020. These single-use bottles will mostly end up in landfills. Faced with this massive waste, Four Seasons Hotels & Resorts in Asia Pacific has decided to become the first hotel company to take action continent wide, along with ecoSPIRITS.
Founded and developed by award-winning independent spirits company, Proof & Company, ecoSPIRITS is pioneering the first low-carbon method of packaging and distribution for high-end spirits, as well as improving shipping efficiency. By eliminating glass and cardboard packaging, this collaboration will help reduce the overall carbon footprint of spirits distribution by up to 80 percent in Four Seasons properties.
The reusable ecoTOTE container, in striking green, holds four-and-a-half litres of premium spirits and was designed in Singapore, making it a proudly “made in Asia” technology. Once emptied, bartenders return the ecoTOTEs, which will be sanitised, refilled, fitted with tamper-proof seals and then re-distributed. Created in small ecoPLANT facilities, the ecoTOTE is stackable, shock-resistant and reduces wastage caused by breakages. ecoPLANTS currently operate in Singapore, Sydney, Auckland and Melbourne, with locations launching shortly in Hong Kong and Shanghai.
“We are proud and excited to partner with ecoSPIRITS in implementing this innovative and important new distribution technology across 14 properties in the Asia Pacific region, with more to follow. The positive impact of decreasing the carbon footprint of spirits by 80 percent speaks for itself. We have found the transition process to be seamless with very few changes required back-of-house, while the partnership further reinforces our other sustainability efforts in other areas, including the elimination of plastic bottles from our guest room private bars in Asia Pacific and plastic straws across our global portfolio,” said Four Seasons Asia Pacific Vice President of Food & Beverage Philipp Blaser.
