Our Next Ecological Step? Reusable Water Bottles!

Introduction

As Portugal Premium Tours, we believe the global tourism industry must adopt sustainable and ecological practices in this age of heightened environmental awareness. We have always been aware of the harmful impact that some of our activities during tours may have on the environment and have been committed to taking sustainable actions.
On this day in 2022, we witnessed an unprecedented determination to adopt eco-friendly practices by converting disposable water bottles into reusable ones.

Behind the Reusable Water Bottles Project

One afternoon in 2022, our business manager, José Pais, visited our guide, Carlos Godinho, in his home. While in his garage, close to one of our mini-vans, they were talking about the previous tours that happened when José encountered a box filled with plastic single-use water bottles that Carlos had been storing to then recycling.

It was an incredible amount of water bottles, and, of course, this was just from a month of tours. From the top of our heads, there was no way we could imagine how much it would be from all of our guides together and during the whole year.

With this vision of the impact of our business, it became clear that we had to take measures to counteract waste and pollution.

We realized people’s concern to travel and have safe water for consumption and we had to find a way to implement the project in a way that was safe for everyone, guaranteeing the quality of the water while also significantly reducing our ecological footprint.

Not only in terms of environmental and social responsibility issues but also regarding health, we believe that Portugal has such good natural springs with safe water where the clients can refill their water bottles without much worry and we are just collecting what the nature is providing.

With this in mind, our manager expressed his worries and thoughts to the team, and one day, in 2023, our ecological reusable water bottles project was born.

Reusable Water Bottles Project

This project aims to reduce the usual use of 8500 single-use plastic water bottles/year to 2400 reusable water bottles/year. And, this number is just from our direct clients… So, through the involvement of our partners, we hope to convert around 20,000 single-use bottles into 5,000 ecological reusable water bottles that customers will continue to use in their daily lives. The impact will be around 15,000 fewer bottles in 2025.

At the beginning of our tours, the water bottles are offered to our clients to use during their stay with us in Portugal and also to take home as souvenirs. We expect a 70% reduction in single-use water bottles next year.

Our methodology will pass by our guides refilling a water tank that will be taken in our mini-vans for all tours to also making sure the clients can get refills with filtered water.

In various places within our country we can also find ‘fountains’ to refill the water bottles. After various experiments with clients in 2023, we have made sure that everything can go smoothly in this year, 2024.

Conclusion

And, of course, this is just one small step. Portugal Premium Tours has been taking many others with our new hybrid sustainable vehicles, mainly choosing small businesses and local partners, within our travel destinations. We introduce experiences and ecological tour options that promote a better lifestyle, such as hiking, water activities, cooking experiences from farm to table, and many other examples.

Check our new green escape tours below:

Private Green Escape Tours in North

Private Green Escape Center 10 Days Tour

Our team is enthusiastic about this amazing project that really excites us on this ecological journey. We firmly believe that every refill marks a small yet meaningful step towards a more equitable and environmentally sustainable future.