Category : Sustainability

Water-saving toilets

No Comment Aug 18,2023 Guesthouses, Guests, Journeys, Sustainability

We’ve spoken a bit about our efforts to be as earth friendly as possible, which included revising our toilet systems; a process we began in 2018.

During the pandemic, the eco warriors at Rovos Rail undertook the task of overhauling our toilet facilities on board with the goal of saving water.

We can at times have as many as 100 guests and staff on board, with each person flushing 10 litres approximately five times a day. This equates to five kilolitres of water per day so 25 tons for a five-day journey, which has to be pumped when required.

Starting out, we knew what we didn’t want which was a replica of the toilets they have on airlines. We did not want the same bowl and we needed something which did not use a strong-smelling disinfectant to flush the toilet clean.

We had already succeeded in finding forest-friendly toilet paper, which spoke about on our blog here. We have been working with Güdco for a few years, with their two-ply sugarcane rolls being used on board the trains and at our two guesthouses in Cape Town.

But now we needed a toilet system to work with our new loo rolls!

It took us a fair amount of time to research various companies who provide comprehensive solutions for sustainable sanitary requirements. We did our due diligence and the blush-inducing conversations we first had when starting out quickly faded as we dived deep into the world of efficient ablution facilities!

We finally found a local company who brings in equipment from an organisation in Sweden called JETS and these have now been installed. All South African trains have fail-safe vacuum brake systems and when the flush button is pushed, the vacuum in the system empties the bowl into a tank under the carriage (similar to the systems on airplanes).

Vacuum toilets use air instead of water to transport sewage. This advantage significantly reduces water usage, while the airflow vents away odours and dramatically reduces the risk of spreading airborne and waterborne pathogens.

The new system has reduced our water consumption by 90%. This feels like a great accomplishment especially given that on our three-night Cape Town journey or the 15-day sojourn between Tanzania and Angola, there are either water restrictions or very few facilities on route where we are able to fill the train.

Not a company to rest on its laurels, we will keep our fingers on the pulse of any new water-saving innovations so this much needed resource is not wasted.

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Rovos Rail gives your lips Msulwa Life

No Comment Aug 5,2022 Guesthouses, Guests, Journeys, Sustainability

We have mentioned a few times that Rovos Rail has overhauled many of the products available on board so that they are earth-friendlier. We’ve spoken about Katavi and Fortis X and now we would like to introduce your lips to Msulwa Life.

Msulwa is an African isiZulu word meaning Pure, Innocent and Clean. Based in Kwa Zulu Natal, the company’s focus is living life with more natural biological products, choosing anti-cruelty, chemical-free, plant-based ingredients as well as vegan, non-animal based materials.

It was a challenge finding a local business who produced an earth-friendly lip balm in recyclable packaging. When guests board our trains, in each of their suites is an amenities bag stocked full of natural goodies including lip balm so we require high volumes of product and want none of it to be wasteful.

In addition to their commitment to the environment, the company created a non-profit called Msulwa Life’s Giving Back Foundation by supporting small and local NGO’s across South Africa that are dedicated to selflessly caring for animals, humanity and the planet.

There are thousands of small projects started by everyday people who work tirelessly to give huge amounts of their resources to help animals and other charitable groups in need. These small organisations are often overlooked, mostly having to rely on their own pockets to take on financial and community burdens in order to help a cause.

Msulwa Life’s Giving Back Foundation shows its appreciation to these local heroes by supporting them with donations whether they be financial, food parcels or any other much needed supplies.

We are so thrilled to be working with this mindful and lovely company and look forward to them creating beautiful, earth-friendly magic.

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Rovos Rail goes greener with Fortis X

No Comment Jul 18,2022 Guesthouses, Guests, Journeys, Menus, Sustainability
Rovos Rail goes greener with Fortis X

Our time at Rovos Rail during various levels of lockdown in 2020 and 2021 was not spent idly. We spent many months discussing how we could go even greener and we finally had the time to tackle the issue of bottled water. This has been a long time coming and we are relieved and happy to have introduced new plant-based and biodegradable water bottles to our trains, departures lounges and to our guesthouses.

We have our own small bottled water company called Babamanzi based in Cape Town which has been certified by SANBWA – South African National Bottled Water Association. Our water plant is small and energy-efficient which further assists us in reducing our environmental footprint. The introduction of our new bottles ensures that we are supplying water to our guests which has been locally sourced and packaged with our planet in mind.

Over the years we have tried various earth-friendlier options which have included glass and aluminium but neither worked too well. We have to take a great deal of water with us on our journeys, especially our longer trips, so we needed a solution where the boxes could be stacked safely and nothing would break or explode.

We got in touch with the good folks at Fortis X who helped us navigate all of our water needs. The plant-based water bottles are made entirely from sugarcane and 100% biodegradable into compost. Fortis X also manufacture bottles from a variety of materials which include Bio-PET, PHA, PLA and other compostable as well as bio-based polymers. Some of these polymers are sugarcane based, which means the bottles are 100% made from plants, with zero plastic and no additives. #

All the water bottles are tested as food-contact safe, with zero leaching into the contents of the bottle. Further testing proved rapid decomposition in certain environments, especially with compost. Such materials degrade into lactic acid which is a valuable soil supplement.

This range of revolutionary bioplastic products are made entirely from naturally-occurring plant sugar (dextrose) found in harvested plant starch. Many products can be made from bio-based polymers and Fortis X specialises in producing bottles and bottle preforms.

Rovos Rail goes greener with Fortis X
Image by Fortis X

At Rovos Rail we understand that as a participant in the local and global hospitality industry we have a responsibility to go greener wherever we can. Our team is working tirelessly to find solutions to the remaining waste challenges we have and we are committed to being as earth-friendly as possible. We are the green train after all.

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Katavi, our new earth-friendly amenities

No Comment Jul 6,2022 Guesthouses, Guests, Journeys, Sustainability
Rovos Rail and Katavi earth-friendly products

We’re doing cartwheels with excitement as we welcome our new earth-friendly amenities by Katavi on board our trains!

We’ve spoken a bit about how our time during the Covid-19 pandemic and the various stages of hard lockdowns was not idle. Being forced to press gave us the gift of time and we were finally able to do in-depth research into earth-friendly products that are locally made, contribute to community upliftment and are packaged in recyclable or biodegradable materials.

We provide guests with an amenities kit on board which includes the usual – shampoo, conditioner, body wash, hand and body lotion, ear buds, sunscreen, insect repellant and tissues. We undertook to look through each item to see where we could improve in terms of our sustainability efforts.

We were so happy to discover Katavi, a company founded by two women who knew that they could leverage what nature has to offer and also create a sustainable and earth-friendly product range.

Janine Halsted is a veteran in the beauty industry who was raised in Zimbabwe. It was early on in her life that her father, a cosmetic scientist, introduced to her the pitch black and earthy-smelling Kigelia fruit. He had noticed locals from rural villages rubbing the fruit on their skin for hydration and protection.

Janine’s father later developed a less than appealing product range using Kigelia and convinced Janine’s best friend, Carolyn, to use the product which in fact improved her complexion enormously. Carolyn knew that there was merit to the product and worked with Janine to improve on the look and smell without damaging the cream or the environment.

After 17 years of developing and launching new products, always staying true to their beliefs of utilizing Kigelia and other “super fruits“, they decided to further expand distribution and enlisted the assistance of Gus Lebreton, an ethno-botanist and founder of PhytoTrade, a southern African natural products trade association.

The result of over 27 years of work, Katavi is an all-natural anti-aging skin care collection. The range features wild-harvested, certified African oils and extracts—free of chemicals and toxins. The Katavi products we provide our guests are “Goggatjie”, an insect repellant, shampoo, hand and body wash and hand and body lotion.

Rovos Rail welcomes Katavi earth-friendly products

Packaged in environmentally friendly, recyclable, airless pump bottles, Katavi’s products contain no parabens, no artificial colorants, no perfume, and no petroleum-derived ingredients with no testing done on animals.

We’re going to be introducing you to our new sustainable, locally made and earth-friendly products over the next while so check in with us from time to time to see how we live up to our colour green!

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Welcome to our Rovos Rail family, Ellie & May

No Comment Jun 24,2022 Guests, Journeys, Station, Sustainability

We would like to welcome Ellie & May to our Rovos Rail family. It never ceases to inspire and amaze us when people turn pain into proactivity. The strength it must take for a family to not only grieve the loss of a loved one but also turn their passing into something meaningful and beneficial is awesome.

It’s one of the many reasons why Rovos Rail is now stocking items produced by the lovely folks from Ellie & May and we are so thrilled to have the McMillan family on board with ours.

The sudden and tragic passing of their brother, son and friend, Mike, inspired them to create a lifestyle apparel brand which contributes to raising awareness about elephant conservation in Southern Africa. Mike was passionate about wildlife and after graduating high school with distinction, he studied a Bachelors in Science with Conservation Ecology as the principal focus at Stellenbosch University.

Whether we like it or not, there is an evolutionary component to pain and often the bereaved turn their grief into action which is how the Mike McMillan Nature Fund was born. A beautiful documentary, featuring Amy McMillan, called Burning Embers was produced to honour Mike’s memory but also to raise awareness and funds for the continuing fight to preserve elephant life in Southern Africa.

There are three different types of products including Ellie buckets, Ellie caps and Ellie beanies. Each cap comes with an Ellie and May sticker with which you can spread the word and the love. Snap a pic whenever you see an Ellie and May sticker and tag @ellie_andmay and #jointheherd to unite all on Instagram.

The caps embody a vibrant personality while being trendy, brightly coloured, and adventurous. All products are locally made, which we also love, and it feels like the love and passion of the McMillan family is woven into every cap, hat and beanie that is delivered into the world.

Please note that Ellie & May items are subject to availability and not are always in stock and available on board.

All images supplied by Ellie & May

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