The Meritage Collection has introduced a sustainability program that has been two years in the making across its six upscale hotel properties in California, Hawaii and Texas. With resorts located from the Texas Hill Country to the shores of Kauai, the collection continues to focus on sustainability initiatives and brand partnerships with an aim to ensure the properties are leaving a positive impact on the planet.
Eco-friendly initiatives were already in place at each property, ranging from packages and partnerships to support organizations, including "Save Our Shores," "Surfrider Foundation" and "One Tree Planted," but the new programs have taken sustainability collection-wide, thereby expanding the positive footprint of the hotels.
The new collection-wide programs are committed to reducing waste in the hotels and building strategic partnerships with businesses that align with and support the sustainability goals. Chief among them include the implementation of bulk in-room amenities (hand sanitizer, lotion, shampoo, conditioner and body wash) to remove individual plastic bottles, recycling and composting, replacing complimentary in-room plastic water bottles with aluminum cans by San Benedetto and technological advances to remove paper receipts.
The Meritage Collection’s retail spaces and products, including Blend Café and resort spas also form a major component of the new sustainable developments. Currently, 40 percent of retail products on sale at Blend Café are sustainable, with a goal of having 90 percent sustainable products by 2025. Sustainable retail partners include Ecowear, an L’Space swimwear line made from recycled plastic; Corkcicle, which are reusable canteens that use a no-plastic shipping filler; and 4Ocean bracelets made from 100 percent post-consumer recycled plastic. Every purchase of a 4Ocean product pulls one pound of plastic from the ocean. Also partnering are Paddywax Candles, which are soy-based candles sourced from U.S. farms, offering a cleaner burn and vessels that can be repurposed as a pot or cup; and Babor, a European skincare company that uses clean ingredients, sustainable packaging and carbon neutral facilities.
With regards to the back-of-house operations, The Meritage Collection also partners with Avendra, working with its sustainability arm to ensure conscious and local purchasing, as well as Element packaging, which offers biodegradable packaging for to-go items available at Blend. Currently, 70 percent of the to-go packages at the properties are made of recycled materials.
The Meritage Collection is also working with a third-party company that evaluates existing recycling initiatives and provides a roadmap of how to improve the processes in order to reach their waste goal. The brand is also making a conscious effort to replace existing vendors and/or source new vendors who follow eco-friendly practices to reach their 90 percent sustainable retail products by 2025. A few of The Meritage Collection’s properties are offering EV charging stations, and are looking to roll out super charge stations at the remainder of their properties on the mainland, along with additional properties in their Legacy collection.
On the property level, The Meritage Resort in Napa recently built a chicken coop in the vineyards used to source a portion of the property’s eggs for the restaurants. Future plans include expansion of the coop to produce more eggs, besides creating a garden to grow produce. The property is also looking to incorporate more biodynamic wines for guests.
For more details, visit www.meritagecollection.com.
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