Running around as a girl at Sani Resort in Halkidiki in Greece, Eleni Andreadis became aware of sustainability issues earlier than most, and it would be something that spurred her on to a future career.

“I come from a hotel family. I was always interested in sustainability, but it wasn’t until university that I realised it was something I could pursue professionally,” she says. A master’s degree in environmental policy followed and, after working abroad for 12 years, she joined the family business overseeing sustainability and corporate social responsibility.

In 2008, the Sani Green programme was initiated, with early steps including tackling the issue blighting many Greek locations: everyday rubbish disposal.

“There was no recycling, so we formed a partnership with a private company. We also started plastic audits,” she recalls She acknowledges this is not feasible for smaller hotels or some islands, however: “The answer is to reduce, there’s too much focus on recycling.”

Andreadis describes Sani Green’s initial progress as “small incremental changes we ended up being proud of”. These led to a reduction in water use in the last five years by 48% and the removal of 80% of single-use plastic since 2013, way before many hoteliers were even talking about it.

There’s also the recycling annually of more than 300 tonnes of waste plus a switch to 100% green-powered electricity, which saved 12,500 tonnes of carbon in 2019.

Firm focus

There has been resistance along the way, she says, both from guests and staff. “Some things make employees’ jobs harder; what’s made the difference has been raising awareness. I remember explaining to staff about the Pacific Garbage Patch. Now they come to us with suggestions. The younger generation, especially, only want to work with companies making a positive impact.”

Guests must also be won over. “British guests have been sensitive to these issues for a very long time. You might have some (other nationalities) that consider readily available plastic water bottles to be a luxury, or want the air conditioning on when they’re out of the room, but people are overwhelmingly supportive.”