environmental policies

Lombok Pool House Homestay is a privately run accommodation in Kuta, Central Lombok, Indonesia.
We are always committed to providing quality accommodation and services to our guests and at the same time leave behind an environment with sufficient resources to future generations. We believe environmental protection is reducing the consumption of natural resources as well as keeping damage to soil, water and air at its minimum. We strive to limit our consumption of energy, water and production of waste.

• Most of our furniture is made by local craftsmen from local materials like wood, rattan and bamboo.

   

We...

•  try to minimise the use of waste of any kind and re-use and recycle all waste where possible;
• switch off all lights and electrical equipment when not in use and only use energy-saving LED light bulbs;
• seek to buy more environmentally friendly and efficient products, and re-use and recycle where possible;
• use cleaning products and materials which are as environmentally friendly as possible and make an effort to use the least amount possible;
• buy locally produced groceries from local suppliers to help reduce our carbon footprint and use local trades people wherever possible;
• promote environmental awareness among our employees and encourage them to work in an environmentally responsible manner, train, educate and inform them about environmental issues within the homestay that may affect their work;
• will continually develop and monitor environmental performance to help improve and reduce environmental impact.

• We ask our guests to...
• be aware of their shopping behaviour and try not to leave too much plastic waste behind; we provide free drinking water for our guests – please bring a refill bottle;
• not to litter and to throw rubbish in the bins provided or hand it over to us in the restaurant. Moreover, if you want to make sure your rubbish doesn’t end up in the ocean, bring it back from the beach and throw it in the bin at our homestay; our rubbish is collected and disposed off at a landfill;
• turn off lights, air conditioning and air fans on their way out;
• save water: be conservative with fresh water use and make sure all showers and taps are closed after use;
• don’t throw anything in the toilets (Indonesia does not have central sewage treatment systems).

    Please read our eco-travelling tips below.

eco travelling tips

A little goes a long way – trying to be eco on your journey

 

Water

Save water! Clean, fresh water is a scarcity in Indonesia!

Don’t shower for hours on end.

Don’t keep the water running unnecessarily and make sure all taps and showers are closed after use.

Potable Water and Buying Water

You should not drink water from the tap. Buying bottled water is unavoidable in Indonesia and there is one simple rule to follow:

Don’t buy a new plastic water bottle every day. If you already have bought one or even better brought a reusable metal bottle from home, don’t forget to refill it at our homestay or you can buy refills most places around town.

Electricity

Save electricity!

Turn off the lights during the day as well as the air conditioning and fans when you are not in your room.

Unplug your electronic devices once they are charged and turn them off completely when you don’t need them.

Rubbish

Everybody who has spent some time in Indonesia has seen the rubbish washed to the beaches, the roadside dumps, cities and natural sights overflown with plastic rubbish.
Proper waste management does not exist in Indonesia. Good “waste behaviour” is thus a major challenge.

Avoid producing waste whenever you can:

- Don’t take a plastic bag every time you go to the shop. Bring your own bag.

- Don’t buy the small shampoo and soap bottles or even worse the small plastic sachets so popular in Indonesia. A big bottle of shampoo produces much less waste than two small ones.

- When buying soft drinks, a glass bottle is much better than plastic or aluminium cans.

- Buy cakes, pastries and sandwiches at the warung or restaurant instead of the supermarket where they are individually packed in plastic. Ask for a paper or banana leaf wrap or bring your lunchbox.

- Don’t leave any rubbish lying around on the beaches, in the forests or at the side of the road – collect it and bring it back to your hotel.

- If you have old batteries, broken electronic gadgets or any other hazardous waste, take it back home with you for correct recycling. There is no way we can properly recycle it here.

 

Environmental Pollution

Another thing to consider is that most areas in Indonesia do not have sewage treatment systems. In many places, wastewater is mostly just spilled into nature – the river, the ocean, the backyard, the rice field. And it all comes back to the people in contaminated rice and fish and polluted drinking water for those who can’t afford to buy clean, filtered water.

Think about your own behaviour:

- Don’t use excessive amounts of soap and shampoo.

- Don’t shower in rivers and lakes. If you can’t avoid it, for example on overnight treks, maybe you can do without soap for once.

Carbon Footprint

Don’t fly too much! 
We are happy you are coming to Indonesia and take the long trip on an airplane. Flying is the most convenient way to get around Indonesia’s 1700 islands. But to reduce your carbon footprint, maybe you don’t need to visit as many as possible in three weeks. Choose where you want to go and find out if you can go there by bus, shared taxi, boat or ferry.

 

And of course, all these tips are worth following anywhere around the world - at your home and on your travels!

What else can you do?

It’s easy to get annoyed by the locals’ “dirty” behaviour but Indonesians for a long time didn’t have any, and nowadays, for the most part, just have very rudimentary environmental or health education in school and are not aware of the dangers environmental destruction causes for everybody’s health and wellbeing.

So why not support a project that promotes environmental education in Indonesia? For example:

Green books: An eco-literacy project for Indonesian children

The Orangutan Project conducts educational programmes for local villagers in South Sumatra regarding orangutans, wildlife, environment and conservation.