• natural / organic product ingredients produced with minimal processing and preservatives,
• minimal, recycled, biodegradable packaging,
• free trade and
• local manufacturers to minimize energy expended to get the products to the spa.

• Janice Gronvold (Spectrec, Spa Business & Marketing Development)

Spas are a high resource-consuming and waste-producing industry. We have an opportunity to demonstrate viable approaches to getting a handle on all our resource consumption and how we handle waste.

Over 400,000.000.000 gallons of polluted, chemically laden laundry detergent water are released into water systems that enter rivers, lakes and the ocean every year. 144 million boxes in 126,000 40-foot containers with 40,000 pounds of detergent in each container crosses the oceans then is trucked to multiple locations each year expending enormous amounts of fuel. Ozone laundry systems are sensible alternatives. Oxygen in the air is converted to ozone using an ozone creation device within the washing machine drum. Ozone has a strong oxidation action, which either destroys or disassembles the cell walls of bacteria. This allows for eliminating bacteria, odors, and dirt and eliminates the need for detergent..

Spas have become an incubator for a whole healthy-lifestyle, multi-billion dollar industry worldwide. The spa industry is an incubator for a new health care system that will be based around wellness and proactive health care rather than a sickness-management model. We need to take these same principles and apply them to health of the planet, because we cannot separate the personal from the planetary.

We, as an industry, have an opportunity to strategically help evolve this industry to really connect mind, body and spirit to our relation to the planet. The environment is not "out there." It is us.

• Peter Jensen (Marketing Director of Rancho La Puerta, Mexico)

One of the most important terms in sustainability is "community." If you get in touch with your community, whether it's your community of staff, your community of guests or your community at large, then you have yourself a sustainable spa.

The Rancho La Puerta founders believed that sustainability begins in each of us. By discovering the inner strength of health through mind, body and spirit balance, we do not find ourselves tugged easily in the direction of consumer trends. If you can create that sense of community and that sense of inner peace with your customers, then they find something that they are searching for, and they cease to seek that satisfaction in a world filled with consumer goods. By getting in touch with ourselves and with nature, we can come back to our senses. Spas help people get in touch with themselves.

The location of Rancho La Puerta was selected carefully by founders Edmund and Deborah Szekely for its climate, open fields, oak groves, river and mountain. Rancho La Puerta grew organically because it had to. According to Deborah, it all begins with the earth. One of the first things on the ranch was a garden, and the garden is what has sustained Rancho La Puerta all along. 50-80% of food eaten at the ranch comes from the 5-acre, hand-tilled, organic farm located ~1.5 miles from the kitchen which minimizes the steps from food source to the table. The garden produces a yearly average of over 250 different varieties of fruits, vegetables and herbs. The ranch generates eight tons of compost a year which is put back into the garden. Other initiatives include:

• eco-friendly cleaning products
• no pesticides are used - the place is in balance (all part of a system) and the proof is over 80 species of birds.
• energy efficient compact fluorescent lights
• slow flow water conservation technology
• local, sustainably harvested building materials - almost all of the buildings are made of tile and adobe. The straw bale buildings are the most energy efficient. Rancho La Puerta recently introduced a program in Tecate's brick-making firms to use energy-efficient kilns that produce much less air pollution than traditional kilns
• no aluminum cans are used on property, therefore no recycling is necessary
• use of local herbs and products in healing therapies
• sustainable gardening and landscaping - permaculture, mix of native species and non-invasive, drought-resistant, non-native varieties
• on-site waste treatment facility provides gray water for the drip irrigation system and composted solids for landscaping fertilizers
• chain downspouts and French drains provide an attractive and efficient method for helping rainwater soak into the ground without erosion
• community action foundation, Fundación La Puerta, provides a nature center for local schools to teach children about the natural history of the area and is currently working on the restoration of the Tecate River which has been polluted by the Tecate brewery.

• Karen Ray (Spa Director, Calistoga Ranch, CA)

All Auberge Resorts are located in beautiful locations. Calistoga Ranch is on 150 acres in a wooded canyon. It makes perfect sense for these properties to be committed to environmental initiatives. Auberge is committed to environmental issues. CEO, Mark Harbin, states, "Our overall mission is responsible luxury - making intelligent decisions with sustainable practices."

How do you begin with greening and how do you sustain a program when faced with all the day-to-day challenges of operating a spa? The Spa at Calistoga Ranch has done the following:

• Joined the Green Spa Network to stay in touch with the community of spa professionals who share a wealth of information and experience on greening and who have helped Calistoga Ranch work slow and steady on greening initiatives. Working slow and steady will help all of us to make changes.
• Had an eco assessment from Natural Logic from Berkeley, CA that looked at every aspect of the greening initiatives in the spa - water waste, energy, treatment products, and cleaning products - and gave a 12-page assessment of exactly where the spa stood in all of those areas. The assessment has provided the spa with significant information to move forward on some of the things that need to be done.
• The spa has made a commitment to use treatment products endorsed by the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics whose goal is to protect the health of consumers by requiring the health and beauty industry to phase out the use of chemicals linked to cancer and other problems. Ask your spa's vendors if they belong to the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics.
• Increase knowledge by reading credible information and research on greening. Some of the things learned include:
  • The FDA does not approve cosmetic labeling, products or ingredients. That leaves the cosmetic industry responsible for properly labeling products and product testing and safety.
  • The Fair Packaging Act requires only the identity of the product, the name and place of business of the manufacturer, the net quantity of the contents, and cautionary labels.
  • Many companies use the terms natural, organic, cruelty-free, hypoallergenic, but no Federal standard governs them. A company can use the term "Organic" in their ingredient deck and it might be that only one ingredient in it is actually organic. A good rule of thumb is to divide the ingredients into thirds. The top third of the ingredients usually make up 90-95% of the product. The middle third is 8-10%. The bottom third is 1-3%. Are the natural and organic products in the top third?
  • The cosmetic industry is self-regulated by The Cosmetic Ingredient Review Board comprised of cosmetic executives and dermatologists who may not have the same interests as the consumer.
  • Almost 90% of the 10,500 ingredients that are used in personal care products have never been evaluated for safety.
  • Natural vs synthetic. It is a misnomer in the spa industry that in order to acheive results, chemical ingredients must be used. Many natural ingredients can achieve the results your guests are looking for. Green chemistry has evolved very quickly over the past few years. There are now very effective natural ingredients such a Hyaluronic Acid and Japanese Honeysuckle (preservative).
    • Emollients (prevent water from evaporating from the skin and nourish the skin)
      Natural Emollients (good): jojoba oil, wheat germ oil, rose hip oil, shae butter, cocoa butter, jojoba butter.
      Synthetic Emollients (bad): PEG compounds, synthetic alcohol, mineral oil (petroleum derived), silicon oils.
    • Surfactants (wetting agents, cleanse, foaming agents used in skin cleansers and shampoos)
      Natural Surfactants (good): Castille Soap, Yucca Extract, Lecithin, Coconut.
      Synthetic Surfactants (bad - very long list): PEG Stearate, polyethylene glycol, TEA compounds, DEA compounds, sodium laurel sulfate.
    • Preservatives (help preserve products) Natural Preservatives (good): Vitamin E, grapefruit seed extract, potasium sorbate.
      Synthetic Preservatives (bad): Urea, methyl propyl butyl ethyl parabens - BHT and BHA.
      
• Calistoga Ranch tests products 4-5 times a year. They have a specific process that is followed with standards they have developed about ingredients they are willing to accept and those they will not accept. A form is filled out. That helps cull through the many products they receive each year for evaluation and consideration.

What ingredients are in your products? You can't just take the word of the sales reps on safety. As decision-makers in greening our spas, we must make intelligent choices about products. We must educate ourselves. We need to read labels. We need to understand what's in ingredients. We need to set standards for our spas on what ingredients are acceptable. Are you willing to have parabens in your ingredients or not? Are you willing to have other chemicals or not? Spas have standards about guest service and how our massage therapists work with our guests. What are your standards for greening? With them, you can establish what your initiatives will be.

All of us can make a difference in this industry. Treatment products are a great place to start. Ask your spa's vendors:

• Are you a member of the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics?
• What do you preserve your products with?
• What kind of packaging are you using? Are you using biodegradable peanuts to ship your products?

• John Gray (CEO Glen Ivy Hot Springs, CA)

Glen Ivy Hot Springs is one of the thousands of places on earth where naturally occurring thermal waters make their way to the surface. The waters historically have been and currently are used for cleansing in both a metaphorical and literal sense. Glen Ivy Hot Springs as we know it began in 1860 and has been in continuous operation ever since. The grounds of the hot springs center around the mineral waters. This is the central element of spa traditionally. Water is at the heart and is the soul of the spa.

Glen Ivy Hot Springs uses of a lot of energy and is looking into ways to reduce its use of grid energy, do something to reduce its costs, and use more natural sources to generate electricity. Glen Ivy's major energy uses include heating water, interior space heating, saunas, lighting, laundry, office equipment, air conditioning, equipment and appliances. The annual energy costs for electricity and natural gas are $255,582 and $100,325 respectively.

The climate is comfortable most of the year, and Glen Ivy Hot Springs was able to increase its massage capacity by adding outdoor massage areas without the full expense of indoor rooms with air conditioning, etc. They came into use in 2007 and have been very popular.

Because the cost of oil has increased and there is more competition in the solar energy field, some costs are coming down into reasonable ranges. This is of interest not only because it is green but also because it may be economically practical. The benefits of using solar technology include tax incentives in some states, utility company rebates and assistance with capital investment, reduction of utility bills, and accelerated depreciation allowance with the IRS. It does require lots of sun to be practical.

We have to do things in our businesses that make business and economic sense. We have to do the right thing. Sometimes, those are a bit conflicting. The gap between doing the right thing and doing the thing that you can afford is getting closer together.

• Michael Stusser (Founder Osmosis Day Spa Sanctuary and Founder of The Green Spa Network)
  
  
  Osmosis has been in business for 22 years and has 17 treatment rooms, 100 employees, and 1,500 guests per month. The cedar enzyme bath, a biologically heat-producing treatment, is the signature treatment that uses materials discarded from other industries. Osmosis is spread out over 5 1/2 acres and has dedicated an extensive effort into developing the gardens because "communion with nature is the most important healing that we can deliver to our guests - getting them connected to the primal forces of nature... Osmosis' mission statement is to create a healing sanctuary providing nurturing services in resonance with nature. Osmosis' core values are shared vision, meaningful work, and right livelihood. This is how the company has been built over the decades, and it provides a really strong foundation for carrying us forward in this direction."
  
  
  All spas experience a very busy, demanding hospitality environment where there are so many guest and staff issues in front of you every day that it's almost impossible to imagine how you could add yet another agenda to your job description. As daunting and difficult as it may seem, greening the spa is a planetary imperative. Osmosis has been working on green initiatives over the last 18 months.

• Where to start? You must start with your staff, and it has to be fun. Osmosis closed the spa for a day and asked the staff for their ideas. A large list of possibilities was generated, and it created great excitement. Some of the best ideas came from them.
• It's important to feel good about what you are doing and not feel overwhelmed and hopeless about what you are not yet doing. Intent is most important. Celebrate knowing you are going to do the best you can starting where you are.
• Get a champion of the cause. (You probably already have this person working for you!) Osmosis selected a Green Team Catalyst and pays her to work with the staff on greening initiatives alone one day a week. She helps to research, implement and track initiatives, to inform and engage the staff, holds contests, gives awards for ideas, communicates the programs to the guests and perspective clients, and networks with other spas.
• Just asking their guests about their opinion of green spas turned out to be of great marketing value for Osmosis. Over a year ago, Osmosis asked their clients in their monthly newsletter to rate these statements,
  • "I would be a more loyal customer of a spa that operates with green business practices versus one that does not."
    Over 80% of the response was "strongly agree."
  • "There is a connection between my health and the health of the planet?"
    Over 61% strongly agreed and over 90% strongly agreed and agreed.
• Osmosis had four separate eco assessments - one paid for, and three free (one by MBA students, one by a utility company and one by a local government). These are a great way to start to get a greening plan together. The report that provided the best information broke the spa up into two sections. The first was green design options. They said the dollar investments towards greening that would have the most impact would be those that would be most apparent to the guests. So, about a year ago, Osmosis did an "eco facelift" with an extensive interior redesign of the spa in a way that guests could really notice, touch, and see what they did.
  • They selected low VOC paint (Doctor Recommended!!!).
  • They hired local artisans to redo the most intimate seating areas in the spa using driftwood and organic cotton.
  • They got the plant lady from town to bring in the best indoor plants that would be right for their environment.
  • They extended with window boxes and put in a water feature.
  • They put a clay surface on the walls that had a nice tactile quality and breathed.
  • The wood floors were replaced by cork floors, a renewable resource, which is more comfortable to stand on and has remarkable acoustic qualities.
  • The carpet is made entirely of recycled materials and is easy to replace because it comes in tiles.
• Osmosis found a wellness filter that eliminated the chlorine and minerals out of all the water coming into the building. The public water had been so unpalatable that they had been using bottled water. With the filter, they have been able to get rid of the bottles. Besides saving the labor of moving the bottles all over, it is saving $700/month plus the water is much better than the water that came in the bottles.
• Osmosis has not been able to do on site laundry because they don't have the possibility for wastewater disposal and there is a shortage of water in the area. Now there is technology to completely recycle the laundry waste water, use it over again and recycle the heat as well. This a project they look forward to in 2008. It will bring a whole lot of enhancements (the massage therapists bring in their own sheets currently), reduce the spa's carbon footprint and create cost savings
• Osmosis increased the insulation in the attic by 2 1/2 times and added sensors to the room to maximize the efficiency of the heating/cooling system. Just adding the insulation has evened out the temperatures of the massage rooms considerably.
• Reducing waste has been a real challenge. It's a "lifestyle" change and not easy. They started out with 5 recycle bins and 4 landfill bins and are now down to 2 1/2 of the landfill bins. The cleaning people had been throwing out every plastic can liner even if it only had a scrap of paper in it. That has stopped and though it seems like a small thing, the bags add up in volume and cost over time.
• They have started wormiculture to digest the spa's paper products.
• They have been systematically reviewing all kinds of products used at the spa and replacing when necessary with nontoxic alternatives. They have succeeded in removing all toxic cleaning products.
• Osmosis is concerned with the contents of treatment products. Parabens are showing up all through the food chain, so Osmosis researched products and decided on one that is independently verified by a third party with science and testing behind it - Eco Cert from Europe. A minimum of 95% of the ingredients come from organic agriculture. A whole waste cycle is tracked. The sourcing of all the materials is taken into account. Osmosis feels confident that this product meets their standard.
• Osmosis is also interested in some of the energy efficient options but, because of the costs, will have to phase them in more gradually over time as their capital program can accommodate them.
• Some of the ways Osmosis informs their guests about their greening program with a flyer and a page on the web site. The more you tell your story, surprises happen. Other people start to tell your story for you. They've received an award from a local organization. The local congressman started talking about them. George McGovern started talking about them.
• Networking with other spas is very helpful. A lot of the research has already been done. It's senseless to reinvent the wheel. The power of networking will really help propel this agenda forward in a robust way.

There's no looking back once you start this journey. You realize all the costs can't be based on economics only. The social and ecological costs need to be taken into account. Spas have fostered a whole renaissance in the healing arts. It's been a phenomenal change in our culture. The gift of touch is a major force in reconciling body, soul and, ultimately, the planet. Clearly spas are affecting culture, and we are in an incredible position to do that. Our audience is ready to receive. We started out in wellness of body, then it went to wellness of mind and spirit and now it's wellness of planet.

"We should ask ourselves why people are going to spas. On one level, people go to spas to check out. But I suggest peopeople oe go to spas to check in - to check into a deeper level of their true selves. They are really coming for a transformational experience, a threshold experience. They want to be ushered into sacred time and sacred space. I say, Let's deliver the goods!"

 

Audio recordings of the two presentations are available at mobiltape.com. They are both well worth buying. A word of warning about the From Green to Gold: How Sustainability Can Translate into Spa Profits tape however...You will not be able to hear the audience's questions, since none of them spoke into microphones. Since Q&A is a significant part of this presentation, it is very frustrating to listen to. You can, of course, hear the answers which provide good information.

• www.GreenSpaNetwork.org
  
• www.Ases.org
• BDIH
• www.CoolerHeat.com
• www.CoopAmerica.org
  
• www.DavidSuzuki.org
• www.Earth911.org
  
• www.EarthDay.net
• EcoCert
• www.EcoProducts.com
  
• www.ExcellentPackaging.com
  
• www.GreenBiz.ca.gov
• Green Globe Certification
  
• www.GreenHome.com
  
• www.GreenIQ.com
  
• www.GreenMBA.com
  
• www.Ionizers.org
• LEEDS Certification
  
• www.LOHAS.com
• www.Naked-Clean.com
  
• www.natlogic.com
• www.NativeEnergy.com
  
• www.NaturalSolutions1.com
  
• www.NaturalStep.org
  
• www.PresidioMBA.org
  
• www.RestorativeTechnologies.org
  
• www.SafeCosmetics.org
• The Soil Association
  
• www.SolarElectricPower.org (online SPOT assessment for solar conversion or partial conversion viability)
  
• www.SolarPowerConference.com
  
• www.SolarToday.org
  
• www.SustainabilityDictionary.com
  
• www.SustainableTravelInternational.org
  
• www.TactileInc.com
  
• www.WorldChanging.com

What I learned at the 2007 ISPA Conference & Expo about Sustainability and Greening in the Spa Industry
Part 2

Green Spa Products at the 2007 ISPA Expo

Words of Wisdom - What I heard at the 2007 ISPA Conference & Expo

The 2008 ISPA Conference & Expo will be held on November 10-13, 2008 at The Venetian Hotel - Resort - Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada.