SINGAPORE: The Orchard Road Business Association (Orba) launched its sustainability road map last week in a bid to make Singapore’s shopping belt more environmentally friendly.

An initial group of 25 out of 125 members, comprising hotels, retailers, landlords and food and beverage operators, have signed the pledge.

Members that have pledged include Metro Singapore, Uniqlo and Hilton Singapore Orchard, and they must commit to at least four out of the eight sustainability approaches.

Focus areas of the pledge include energy efficiency, green procurement processes that include working with sustainably certified suppliers, and sustainability experiences such as hosting sustainably themed events.

“A great example is our Christmas light-up where we buy our energy for the light-up from renewable sources,” said Orba chairman Mark Shaw to members of the media at the event at the Hilton Singapore Orchard.

Orba’s sustainability-knowledge partner, Professor Lawrence Loh, who works as a director for the Centre of Governance and Sustainability at the National University of Singapore, said: “The road map is not just a small, little set of action items for businesses in Orchard Road, but is in alignment and convergence with global trends and local impact.”

Acknowledging the initial 25 members as the first movers in Orchard Road’s combined effort to lower its overall carbon footprint, Shaw said it was the platform to be on for those who were unsure of where to start.

“We hope their actions will spur others to seek ways to enhance their businesses in ways that reflect mindfulness towards the social and environmental impact of the economic activities taking place along Orchard Road,” Shaw said.

An Orba spokesperson said that while having 25 members was a good start, the challenge with any new initiative was that time would be needed for it to gain traction.

Since 2022, the association has held over 50 engagement sessions with stakeholders to get a balanced view of the situation and develop the final road map.

As part of its commitment towards reducing waste, Hilton Singapore Orchard has replaced plastic key cards with Forest Stewardship Council-certified cherry wood key cards, eliminating about 40,000 plastic cards yearly.

It has an in-house water filtration and glass bottling system, which allows 16 bottles to be washed at any point in time. Bottles are washed and reused on-site, lowering its carbon footprint and eliminating about 1.2 million plastic water bottles yearly that would otherwise have been given to hotel guests.

To reduce its water footprint, Grand Hyatt Singapore and Pan Pacific Singapore harvest rainwater for non-potable water that is used for the hotel’s landscape irrigation system, cooling tower and flushing of toilets.

Clothing retailer Uniqlo takes it a step further by tracking the impact of its Neighbours Helping Neighbours programme, which distributes donated clothing to beneficiaries of social-service organisations and family-service centres that include Selarang Halfway House and the Anglican Family Centre.

The programme comes under Orba’s road map for waste management and social-sustainability approach.

- ANN