Member Spotlight: Orca Spirit Adventures
Orca Spirit Adventures has once again achieved GreenStep Gold Certification after a recent reassessment! This recognition highlights their ongoing commitment to sustainability and their future plans to further reduce their environmental impact. Read on as Sales Manager Hailey Olsen shares insights into their green initiatives:
Tell us a bit about your business. What makes you different?
Orca Spirit Adventures founder John Douglas was instrumental in building the whale watching industry in the region, launching the first covered vessel operation in Victoria, BC over 25 years ago while also helping to create responsible whale watching guidelines committed to research, education, and ethical whale and wildlife viewing.
Why is sustainability important to you/your business?
The Orca Spirit crew lives, breaths and thrives on respecting the environment, while creating extraordinary guest experiences.
Orca Spirit has made a long term commitment to protect and preserve the spectacular natural setting we are fortunate to do business in, by actively practicing the principles of eco-tourism and sustainability.
In fact, we have been taking UNWTO and TIES definitions to heart, using them to guide decision-making across every aspect of our business for many years.
For us, that translates into taking a leadership role in our community by developing and implementing eco-tourism awareness programs, and continually monitoring of our use of natural resources for areas of improvement.
Why did you join Sustainable Tourism?
Orca Spirit Adventures has received GreenStep Sustainable Tourism Gold Certification. This is the world’s largest and most credible sustainable tourism certification program. To receive a Gold standing, we had to meet a specific standard after an official assessment of criteria in 11 different categories ranging from resource consumption, sustainable purchasing and transportation to management, nature and cultural involvement.
This assessment gives us insight into how to further reduce our impact on the environment, how to best manage future projects, as well as create a personalized action plan moving forward.
What sustainability related projects, policies or initiatives do you most want travelers to know about?
Orca Spirit Adventures established a ‘Green Management Plan’ to guide every facet of our organization from the ground up, and encourage every team member to demonstrate a sincere commitment to a sustainable future.
The Plan focuses on six areas, including:
- Waste Reduction—using compostable plastic bags in our gift shop, a water station vs bottled water, purchasing paper towels and toilet paper made from recycled-materials
- Greening our Clean—purchasing environmentally-friendly cleaning products from local supplier Planet Clean
- Conscious Purchasing—reducing and re-using supply packaging
- Green Transportation— staff incentives for biking to work, using a Toyota Hybrid Prius for deliveries and transportation
- Reducing Energy Consumption—lowering thermostats, using energy-efficient lighting and low-flow water fixtures
- Monitoring and measuring each initiative to drive perpetual improvement
What are some goals and/or actions you plan to take in the future to further increase the sustainability of your business?
Orca Spirit has a “go greener” plan which includes:
- No longer selling bottled water to guests in offices and during regular tour schedule
- Saying goodbye to plastic bags
- Monitoring water consumption and vehicle use
- Purchasing only environmentally friendly cleaning supplies
- Tracking and offsetting fuel consumption for vessels and vehicles
- Providing information on green actions
- Conservation
- Contributing donations and time to local organizations
Learn More
You can learn more about Orca Spirit Adventures and their sustainability efforts at OrcaSpirit.com
