Eco Sexy
Eco-Sexy. Big Smiles.
Let’s start with Eco Sexy; interior design and our eco-friendly values. They’re both equally important to us. That’s why we are sustainable every step of the way. All the materials we use in our hotels are certified cradle-to-cradle, recycled, or secondhand. FSC and PEFC certifications mean we only use wood from managed forests. Walk on our cradle-to-cradle carpet. Sleep in our cradle-to-cradle Royal Dutch Auping beds. Snuggle up to our Responsible Down Standard (RDS) pillows and quilts. And not only are the building and materials eco, all our daily operations are too. That’s why our staff wear organic, cotton sweaters that say, ‘’I am eco-sexy and I know it’’. All our hotels have the Green Key Gold, which is the largest sustainability mark for the tourism and leisure industry in the Netherlands. Read on about what we do.
Cleaning & maintenance
We pick our suppliers carefully to ensure they share our values. We chose Van Der Kleij laundry service because their linen and towels are circular. Which means when they begin to wear out they are recycled. Van Der Kleij has both a Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS) and Fairtrade certification. We clean our rooms without using chemicals and towels are changed when guests ask for them to be changed, not before. We refill the large soap dispensers with organic, NaTrue certified soap, to avoid all those small, disposable, plastic bottles. Even our maintenance team works without using chemicals wherever possible, using water-based paint and lacquer.
Green energy
Our energy comes from Pure Energie and is generated only from Dutch windmills. Conscious Hotel Westerpark is 100% electric and The Tire Station has solar panels on the roof to capture the blazing Amsterdam sunlight! Both these hotels have Aquifer Thermal Energy Storage (ATES). That’s a system that uses energy storage deep under the ground to heat and cool the buildings.
Water-saving
We use water-saving showerheads that pump air through the nozzles with the water. The faucets (also known as ‘taps’ to English people) in the washbasin use a water-saving system. Using these methods, we save 35% of shower water and 50% of water in the washbasins. There is also a special heating system to heat water using the same ATES underground energy storage system we mentioned before.
Waste reduction
We separate all paper, glass, plastic, residual waste, and chemical waste. And we compact any remaining waste. As a result, the waste service doesn’t have to come to our hotels as often. Fewer journeys means less fuel used to get to our hotels and less CO2. Which is a shame because there are some good-looking waste truck workers that we’d like to get to know better.
Organic food & beverages
Eating healthy food is important. So is knowing where what you’re eating came from. That’s why we work with local suppliers – we visit them ourselves to check them out – selecting only organic products. From the bread, eggs, and juices of the breakfast buffet to the vegetables and liquors in our restaurants. Our dishes change with the seasons, enabling us to use mostly local products which haven’t racked up lots of air miles. All our drinks are organic and our fairtrade coffee comes from Moyee.