The major initiatives taken by the Company under Corporate Social Responsibility are in the area of the environment. 'The Orchid', flagship hotel of the Company, has taken various initiatives for creating awareness and conservation of the environment, some of which are as under:
- The Orchid has adopted and maintains gardens and traffic islands around the Mumbai city for beautification purposes and improvement of the overall environment.
- The Orchid, along with the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai, has initiated the Nirmalya Project wherein Nirmalya generated during the Ganesh festival is collected, segregated and converted into valuable vermicompost to ensure that it is not dumped. Nirmalya Project was acknowledged by granting The Golden Star- Most Admired CSR practice of the Year Award by the Stars of the Industry group.
- The Orchid celebrated World Environment Week and distributed around 2500 pouches of vermicompost and basil seed packs and spread the message of the need to combat global warming and the importance of planting trees and managing solid waste. Also, interesting documentaries on wildlife were screened, and several fun eco games were organized for the kids.
- Old plastic cans, converted into nest boxes, have been up in the hotel lane to conserve sparrows. These boxes are also distributed to the employees and the guests of the hotel.
- Several events namely poster competition, wealth out of waste competition, quiz competition, photography competition, screening of documentaries on the environment, interactive sessions with NGO Green peace on Global warming and conservation of the environment were held to increase awareness of environmental issues.
- The Orchid is one of the few hotels to spread environmental awareness to students of schools and colleges who are invited to The Orchid regularly, where they are educated about solid waste management, energy efficiency and water conservation and preservation and taught about vermiculture, 4 bin segregation system, water-saving measures, and other environmental practices. During the year under review, more than 300 students visited the hotel.
- Earth Hour 2013 was observed in The Orchid by switching off non-essential lights of the hotel to accomplish the endeavour to mobilize the entire globe to take action against climate change.
- A silent rally was conducted by Green team members of The Orchid before Diwali, to urge the public to reduce air and noise pollution in the city by not using firecrackers.
- As a caring corporate citizen, our Company has recruited a reasonable number of physically challenged persons, thereby providing employment opportunities to this underprivileged segment of the society.