New Town hotel Shows Plastic Pods the Door

AN EDINBURGH hotel is making small but significant changes to help to reduce its environmental impact, starting with its in-room and restaurant hot beverages.

Nira Caledonia, located on Gloucester Place in Stockbridge, is one of a select few establishments in Scotland to stock Eden Project coffee pods – capsules that are 100% compostable.

Alongside the likes of Gleneagles Hotel and Fairmont St Andrews, Nira Caledonia now stocks these world-first sustainable alternatives to the traditional plastic coffee pods.

The capsules do not have to be separated into foil, plastic and coffee dregs; the whole pod can be disposed of in a chef’s food waste bin, compost bin or industrial compost facility and will break down in a matter of weeks.

Chris Lynch, General Manager at Nira Caledonia, said: “For us, it’s a no-brainer when it comes to reducing our impact on the environment.

“Changing our coffee pod supplier is a small change but I am definitely of the opinion that small steps will lead to significant results. I’d encourage all hotels to look at what they could do better to meet their responsibilities.

“Our guests will still enjoy the highest quality speciality coffee, which just so happens to also be totally environmentally friendly.”

Distributed in the UK by Tupinamba Coffee Company, the capsule range consists of four organically grown, single origin coffees – Columbian, Guatemalan, Costa Rican and Italian Espresso decaffeinated.

Tupinamba is a premium Spanish coffee roaster present in 11 countries and has a 120-year history. It launched in the UK last year but the development of the capsule by the Eden Project has been three years in the making.

The range is now being snapped up by many of Scotland’s luxury hotels and establishments, with Nira Caledonia leading the way in Edinburgh.

David Boothby, Managing Director of Tupinamba said: “This partnership is a real source of pride for us, having the backing and eco credentials of the Eden Project.

“We’ve all had to sit up and take notice of the problem of single-use plastic and I firmly believe the hospitality and tourism industries should be leading the way.

“We’re no longer a generation of travellers that doesn’t care about where these products come from and it’s fantastic to see high-end hotels like Nira Caledonia addressing that issue in such a positive way.”

Nira is no stranger to cutting back on its plastic use, having recently swapped its miniature L’Occitane toiletries for larger refillable bottles in each room, saving approximately 400 cubic metres of plastic waste each year.

The hotel reopened its doors to the public just in time for summer 2018 following a £1.4 million intensive project to restore half of the hotel devastated by a fire in 2017.

Rooms at Nira Caledonia start at £159.

For further information visit niracaledonia.com or tel 0131 225 2720.