Mexican Ecoresorts Take Environmental Strides

Jul 01, 2005

A collection of rustic hotels along Mexico's Mayan Riviera are taking environmental matters into their own hands with recycling, composting and educational initiatives.

EcoTulum Resorts & Spa, one of the original ecologically-minded companies in Tulum, has launched a plastics recycling program on its premises in cooperation with a Riviera Maya company. All three of EcoTulum’s properties have strategically placed recycling bins for plastic bottles that are transferred to sacks provided and collected on a regular basis by ECOCE. The company has also introduced a compost program to return organic matter to the earth and nourish the gardens once material is broken down.

EcoTulum is joining forces with 15 other area hotels and the Mayan Riviera Hotel Association to implement a program designed to reduce the impact of water, energy and solid waste on the environment. Part of the initiative involves each hotel establishing operating practices that conform to the model for sustainable development. All will voluntarily submit their consumptions of water, energy and diesel over the previous year to the committee for analysis, working with onsite environmental inspectors to ensure that hotel operations are at their “greenest.”

“We're excited by the community-based initiative to develop sound ecological practices that will preserve Tulum in the long run,” explained Holly Worton, co-owner of EcoTulum. “The programs are basic from a North American standpoint, but it's an important sign that some hotels are taking matters into their own hands.”