Green Giant

Marina Bay Sands executive director for sustainability, Kevin Teng, shares with Grace Ma how the hospitality industry can defy the wastage stereotype to be a positive role model in sustainability

- Grace Ma

ECO-CONSCIOUS EVENT organisers holding conferences and meetings at Marina Bay Sands (MBS) can not only track their energy and water consumption, but can also offer their delegates locally sourced food and beverage options that reduce the emission of greenhouse gases during transportation.

These value-added services are offered at no additional cost by MBS as part of its parent company Las Vegas Sands’ global sustainability programme Sands Eco360°. Since the programme’s implementation in 2011, it has won several sustainability awards.

The integrated resort’s conservation efforts extend to effecting real-world change as well. In February, its ArtScience Museum unveiled a new permanent interactive technology experience, Into the Wild:

An Immersive Virtual Adventure, where visitors can learn about endangered wildlife in Indonesia’s Rimbang Baling rainforest, and have a real tree planted there every time they plant a virtual one at the exhibition and make a $38 pledge to the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF-Singapore).

WWF-Singapore CEO Elaine Tan says that the augmented reality experience made by Google and Lenovo using Tango technology, and in association with Qualcomm and Panasonic, is a “great example of how brands can come together to drive positive environmental impact”.