“We do not inherit earth from our ancestors; we borrow it from our children”.
So began Sands China’s Director of Sustainability, Syed Mubarak when he spoke recently at a British Business Association of Macao breakfast briefing. This powerful Native American proverb provided him with the springboard from which to address his audience with the trends and progress in green initiatives and sustainability here in Macau.
For many of us who jog each morning along the waterfront park by Ocean Gardens, and have to suffer the stench of liquid sewage pouring into the stretch of sea between us and Hengqin island we could be excused for asking, “What progress?!”. And only this morning I passed a rubbish collecting team emptying the park’s recycle bins with their compartments for plastic, paper and other waste that the general public had carefully separated …. and tossing all the contents together into the one refuse bag!
Mubarak joined Sands China in 2014 to lead their ECO360 Global Sustainability Programme. Launched in 2011, a series of 5 year goals were set for all their Macau properties. These have achieved some seemingly impressive results. When you’re dealing with such vast numbers, 35 million square feet of buildings, 13,000 rooms, 100,000 visitors a day, 850 retail outlets, 150 food and beverage outlets and 30,000 staff, every dripping tap, every air-conditioning system running just a degree too low, every superfluous light bulb, is treated as important. And through their concerted efforts, staff education and guest awareness initiatives, 80 million kWh or 14% savings over their 2010 base line has been saved (the equivalent, we are told, of power for 16,000 homes in Macau for a year) thanks in part to the replacement of over a million light bulbs with LED and the installation of 1,000 fan dampers for demand ventilation. Micro wind turbines with solar panels provide battery charged power for their street lighting.
Sub meters have been installed to check underground water consumption to detect and isolate leaks. An automatic rain sensor irrigation system is used for the landscaping. In the last 5 years, the Sand’s properties alone have saved 150 million gallons of water, or the equivalent of 250 Olympic pools.
Innovative technology is being used to transform food waste to bio water. Six food waste digesters of 7 tons combined capacity have diverted over 1,000 tons of waste since 2014.
Since 2013 Sands has had a partnership with ‘Clean the World’ organization to recycle partially used guest room soap and shampoo; over 100 tons of soap has been diverted and 100,000 hygiene kits built for shipping to needy parts of the world (post earthquake Nepal for example), thanks to the involvement of 3,000+ team members and volunteers. “Every small things we do will help”, exclaims Mybarak. Other campaigns are in place for the recycling paper, electronic waste (think the number of phones and computers that can become redundant) plastic, cooking oil and metal cans.
25 guest shuttle buses have been re-engineered with battery operated airconditioning for use during idle time. The Parisian’s entire fleet of shuttle buses run on low-emission compressed natural gas (CNG) technology and all guest parking is located underground, significantly reducing the heat island effect typical of urban buildings.
With 1.65million sq.ft meetings and exhibition space, Sands encourages ‘Green Meetings’ which involves use of reusable event banners, water dispensers instead of bottled water, no writing pads issued. 100 green meetings have been achieved thus far.
Procurement plays a crucial role in Sands’ green initiatives; the aim is to reduce toxicity and to use natural resources where ever possible. Currently they buy over 6000 green products in 9 categories ranging from cleaning products, equipment, paints, coatings, carpets, plumbing fixtures, furniture, building materials. Food is the biggest category.
So what’s next? Continual advancement in energy and water efficiency technologies are being made worldwide and it is Mubarak’s role within Sands China to advocate the use of these wherever possible. Their latest building, Parisian, for example, has the latest technology airconditioning system, is 40% water efficient and the property’s lighting is 100% LED. An electrical and electronics engineer with 24 years in integrated facilities management, energy management strategies, sustainable best practices and technical engineering solutions, Macau is indeed fortunate to have a man of his experience and stature; let’s hope that the initiatives that Sands China employ are being replicated by the other operators, and in turn will be supported and adopted by business and government.
April 3, 2017
