Green Luana

On the one hand it feels a little hypocritical to call ourselves green while living in such an extraordinarily luxurious house, but on the other, we do take seriously doing everything we can to minimize waste and impact.  This has always been our process, but it’s come to our attention that our guests appreciate this, so we thought we’d put it out there.  Here are some of the green practices Luana Inn has always followed:

• Composting of kitchen and yard waste 
• Growing food on the property and buying as much local food as possible, cooking from scratch rather than purchasing imported ready-made foods (like bread)
• Solar-heated water     
• Use of florescent bulbs and timed/controlled lighting systems
• Non-toxic cleaning supplies such as Simple Green and Vinegar (as much as is possible, although we of course use bleach for sanitation)
• Use of washable cloth rags for light cleaning versus paper towels
• Paper-less communication and marketing: we are totally web-focused and believe in a minimum of hard-copy advertising and guest communication
• Recycling – we sort and haul everything that is recyclable on the island
• Re-usable shopping bags: we leave cloth bags in each guest room to encourage guests not to use plastic bags because garbage is a major concern on the island.
• Clean water: we put Brita filters or PUR water filters in each guest room to encourage guests not to buy plastic water bottles.  Please note that these filters are for taste only, and that the Inn is on county water which is clean and safe.         
• No hotel soaps: every guest room is stocked with large bottles of shampoo and conditioner, and we use refillable soap containers with our favorite old-school liquid soap, Dr. Bronners, because it feels good and has clean, organic ingredients.
• No Styrofoam or paper in the kitchen: we are not fans of the typical accoutrements of the “continental” hotel breakfast, including paper napkins and Styrofoam cups of coffee.  We serve a hot, homemade breakfast at a beautiful table with linens and real dishes.
• Like most accommodations, we are happy to provide fresh towels daily, and we do a regular linen rotation for all long-stay guests.  However, between scheduled rotations we encourage guests to re-use towels to conserve water.  Please note that we aren’t strident though, and will never guilt-trip a guest (as we’ve heard some other B&B’s do.)  We have practices in place that work for us most the time, but our guests’ comfort is our biggest priority.