KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia, Dec. 19, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Sunway Hotels & Resorts, the hospitality division of Malaysian conglomerate Sunway Group, has partnered with Kloth Cares, a Malaysian social entrepreneurship movement dedicated to keep fabrics out of landfills through rethinking, reusing, reducing, repurposing and recycling unwanted fabrics.
The partnership involves Sunway Hotels & Resorts located in Kuala Lumpur, namely Sunway Resort Hotel & Spa, Sunway Pyramid Hotel, Sunway Clio Hotel, Sunway Putra Hotel and Sunway Velocity Hotel where a permanent Kloth Cares bin were placed in the respective hotels for its employees to recycle their used linen, clothes and soft toys which are then collected on a monthly basis by Kloth Cares. The hotels also recycle its used and discarded linen such as towels, bed sheets and curtains, and has since collectively recycled close to 10,000 kg since May 2019.
"At Sunway Hotels & Resorts, sustainability is an integral component in our business framework as we continually expand our presence and networks. Our collaboration with Kloth Cares is another step towards our goal for a circular economy. We anticipate to recycle approximately 15,000 kg of fabric annually from our hotels," said Farizal B. Jaafar, Sunway Hotels & Resorts' Group Director of Brand Marketing & Communications.
To create awareness on repurposing used fabrics and the function of the Kloth Cares bin, an inter-department challenge was organised in all Sunway Hotels & Resorts with "Bin It To Win It". Through the challenge, a total of 2,500 kg of textiles and other wearable products were collected in one week and items were donated to Kloth Cares; while other Sunway Hotels & Resorts in Penang, Cambodia and Vietnam donated their respective collections directly to selected charity houses. The quarterly challenge also served as a platform to continually educate hotel guests and employees on keeping fabric out of landfills by recycling. The hotels are also working with local artists, who utilised the discarded linen as canvases for their artworks.
According to Kloth Cares, it is estimated that Malaysians produce up to 2,000 tonnes of textile wastes and other wearable products daily. An old t-shirt or a pair of jeans that is thrown away makes up of 5% of solid waste that ends up in our landfills, if not recycled. As textile waste decompose, it releases methane, a harmful greenhouse gas that is a significant contributor to global warming.
The items collected by Kloth Cares are sorted, those in favourable conditions are then redistributed to bundle shops and to identified communities in need; while suitable and sizeable fabrics are cut to make industrial cleaning cloth and the unwanted fabrics are reengineered to fuel cement kiln. "We are excited to have Sunway Hotels & Resorts as a partner and the first hospitality group in Malaysia to be a part of this movement. This movement is an effort where people from all walks of life are able to participate in and we hope that through this collaboration, others will be more aware of their actions before throwing away their unused fabrics and are also encouraged to recycle," said Nik Suzila Hassan, Co-Founder of Kloth Malaysia.
This initiative by Sunway Hotels & Resorts is part of the #sunwayforgood movement, which is Sunway's commitment towards a sustainable environment, economy and society. Committed to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), Sunway Hotels & Resorts continues to align its business, operating strategies and corporate culture with sustainable practices and solutions in line with the SDG agenda. All Sunway Hotels & Resorts' are fully committed and have adopted SDG2 that focuses on Zero Hunger and SDG12 on Responsible Consumption and Production; fostering a better future for the communities in which Sunway builds, serves and lives.
Sunway Hotels & Resorts' on-going #ZeroFoodWastage programme is an initiative where surplus food is collected daily from its food and beverage establishments to feed the urban poor. The Hospitality Group's Soapful project repurposes used soap bars from all its hotels and thereafter distributed to selected beneficiaries for their personal use and also to be sold as part of their respective social enterprise programmes at charity sales, community markets and other social platforms. The Group also partners with FatHopes Energy for the recycling and conversion of the hotels' used cooking oil into biodiesel and other sustainable initiatives include turning food waste into compost, the no-straw campaign and reducing single-use plastic. For more details about Sunway Group's mission to drive the 2030 United Nations Sustainable Development agenda, visit http://www.sunwayforgood.com. For opportunities to collaborate with Sunway Hotels & Resorts, please e-mail shr.corporate@sunwayhotels.com
Sunway Hotels & Resorts
Sunway Hotels & Resorts operates a portfolio of 11 hotels in Malaysia, Cambodia and Vietnam, representing over 3,300 guestrooms, suites and villas at its owned and managed properties. The Hospitality Group, a subsidiary of Sunway Berhad, operates a diverse portfolio of hospitality assets and services that includes ownership and management of an integrated resort city with a cluster of hotels with large scale convention, meeting and exhibition facilities, to private villa resorts, a wellness retreat and a collection of 5, 4 and 3-star hotels in mixed-use development. For more information, please visit: https://www.sunwayhotels.com
Kloth Cares
Formed and founded on 11 December 2013, Kloth Malaysia Sdn Bhd is a Malaysian social entrepreneurship movement for keeping fabrics and plastics away from the landfills through the circular economy business model. Kloth Cares Fabric Recycling Movement is an inspiration of Kloth Malaysia's co-founders who aspire to change mind-sets and empowering Malaysians to take actions in keeping unwanted fabrics away from the landfills. Selangor Youth Community (SAY) and Life Line Clothing Malaysia (LLCM) are the fabric movement's founding partners in catalysing zero fabric waste into the landfills and instead giving them new life and purpose. Launched on 18 August 2018 and as Malaysia's first fabric recycling movement establishment, our approach to managing fabric and textile wastes is by staying true to 5R principles "Rethink, Reduce, Reuse, Repurpose and Recycle" from a holistic approach. Kloth Cares Fabric Recycling Movement aims to divert 2,000,000 kg of unwanted fabrics (equivalent to 12,000,000 t-shirts) from ending up in the landfills its launch date to 18 February 2021; a campaign themed #2Million2Save. Kloth Cares Fabric Recycling Movement is calling Malaysians to SAY #ICare and #JoinTheMovement to keep unwanted fabric away from the landfills.
Photo - https://photos.prnasia.com/prnh/20191218/2675158-1?lang=0
