Dr. Assaf Rosenthal
This is a small story about a luxury hotel in Cape Town (DRAP) whose manager/owner decided that he should contribute his part to the fight for the environment.
The Mount Nelson Hotel is one of the oldest hotels in Cape Town and one of the most luxurious and prestigious. Its location at the foot of the famous Table Mountain, a view of the bay and above all the pampering treatment that its guests receive, made it a meeting place for the "rich and famous" from around the world. So what interests the readers and why am I writing and advertising it? The answer / hint in the opening line.
As a tribute, a stone's throw from the presidential "suite" (in the hotel), thousands of diarrheas, or as they are called around the world earthworms, swarm. The pink worms whose length reaches 15 cm play a central role in the realization of the hotel management's initiative.
The initiative is to minimize the amount of trash removed from the hotel since one of the environmental problems is the lack of space for trash. All over the world, garbage is handled in different ways, with the goal of treatment being threefold: one is to reduce the volume of garbage, the second is to recycle as much as can be recycled, and the third is to reduce the emission of pollutants from the garbage dumps into the atmosphere.
It is clear that maximum recycling lowers the volume. The hotel management decided to recycle all the organic garbage, meaning all the leftover food... Anyone who has been to a hotel knows that large amounts of food are thrown away every day. In order to recycle the garbage, we use diarrheas, the organic garbage is collected in ventilated containers where the diarrheas are infested. These work non-stop
In eating the garbage on the one hand and emitting the desired products on the other. The products in this case are excellent compost that does not smell and therefore does not constitute a hazard, and a liquid that is used to fertilize the hotel's lawns and gardens. The compost is sold to peanut gardens and garden owners.
The "products" are clean because the diarrhea neutralizes toxic bacteria such as coliforms, neutralizes and prevents the emission of carbon dioxide and methane. By turning the waste into stable fertilizers rich in nitrogen and potassium. The hotel advertises the location of the "factory" as an attraction for its guests. The distinguished guests are satisfied twice, once because an action is taken for the sake of the environment, and a second time because this activity does not harm their stay in the luxurious hotel. Activities for the environment make the hotel more prestigious and the circle of its customers is growing. And so a hotel manager shows how to make a profit without harming the environment, or actually how to make a profit by preserving the environment.
With us: a pretentious entrepreneur announced "building a luxury hotel on the coast of the Gulf of Eilat facing the environment". The hotel was built so that it completes the "wall" that closes the north of the bay. What is environmental about that? It is debatable about the external shape of the hotel, which was built with the pretense of looking like an ancient palace. There is no disputing that the hotel's parking lot stinks from the garbage can, a container in which the remains of the luxury meals served at the hotel are fermenting. There is no debate about the constant noise ("music"?) on the beach under the care of the hotel.
There is no dispute that most of the day that beach is dirty, dirt that flows into the sea and pollutes its waters.
Right. The described hotel does not have exclusivity over the blocking of the view to the bay, over the noise and the dirt. But the builders of the other settlements did not declare the "face to the environment". Maybe the day will come when our hotel staff will learn from hotels in Africa.
