Food and beverage outlet HMSHost International at Schiphol Airport in the Netherlands has donated 1.2 billion liters of clean water to Netherlands-based water charity Made Blue during the last eight years. The company highlighted this achievement to mark World Water Day on March 22.
Since partnering with the charity in 2014, the company has donated four liters of clean drinking water for every beverage served at HMSHost International’s operations in the airport. This represents the provision of 10 years of water supply for nearly 17,000 people in communities in Indonesia and Vietnam, among others.
Bas van Asten, vice president commercial at HMSHost International, said, “As an international company serving travelers from all over the world, we feel a responsibility to find ways to impact the communities around us in a positive way. We care for the planet and nurture people. Through our partnership with Made Blue Foundation, we create a link between our operations and providing a basic human right: fresh drinking water to remote communities.”
Machiel van Dooren, co-founder of Made Blue Foundation, said, “We’ve calculated the average water footprint of a drink served at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol being four liters of water; that same amount is being made available as clean water in developing countries for every drink consumed. We’re very excited that the HMSHost International Made Blue partnership launched in 2014 has delivered such a massive impact.”
The partnership has calculated that the donation prevented around 8,400 tons of carbon emissions and saved 179,000 trees from being used as firewood, by taking away the need for remote communities to clean polluted water by boiling it over an open fire. Furthermore, approximately 600 million items of plastic waste were eliminated by obviating the need for bagged or bottled water.
The HMSHost International and Made Blue partnership currently focuses on creating access to clean water and hygiene for the Dien Quang municipality in the Ba Thuoc district of Vietnam. This municipality is mainly inhabited by the Muong, a minority group in Vietnam. The joint effort aims to provide 3,572 people with clean drinking water and thereby improve their health and quality of life. Earlier in the partnership, communities in Bandung in Indonesia were supported, and the two organizations are hoping to increase their positive impact in the Asian region.