Photo by Pjotr Mahhonen
Any mention of "Costa" among people who cruise also includes "Concordia" in the same sentence.
Until now.
Costa, Europe's largest cruise line, won a Go Green Award this week for its ongoing record of environmental excellence. The award comes from Weekend Weekly, a popular travel magazine in Hong Kong, and is supported by three environemental organizations that all have the word "Green" in their names.
Among other things, Costa is taking what it calls an unprecedented environmental step in the recycling process on cruise ships. Actually, the words of Costa's Ernesto Gori were "a landmark experiment" but "unprecedented environmental step" is the same thing, as you shall see.
While it's not clear if it's just for crew or also for passengers, recycling on the Costa Pacifica will now be done in three waste streams: packaging, biodegradable waste and paper. Anything that enhances recycling is good, but if this means passengers can separate "garbage" from "recyclables" in their cabins, that's even better. We've always found it strange that such environmentally devoted businesses like cruise lines didn't given passengers that option in their rooms.
Ernesto Gori put it this way:
“The fact that we are the first cruise company in the world to carry out such a landmark experiment, which will lead to even higher standards in the treatment of shipboard waste, is further tangible evidence of our environmental excellence.”
And for Costa, any issue that doesn't include "Concordia" is…well, a good start.
Norwegian Star
7 nights
September 30, 2012
New York (return): King's Wharf
Inside: $429
Cost per day: $61
www.ncl.com