SCP Hilo Hotel, HWF Partner to Keep Big Island Beaches Pristine

The newly opened Soul Community Planet (SCP) Hilo Hotel, is partnering with Hawai’i Wildlife Fund (HWF) to ensure the Big Island’s beaches stay beautiful.

Formerly the Hilo Seaside Hotel, SCP and HWF have created the Pristine Makai program. Every time a guest chooses to stay at the new SCP Hilo Hotel, SCP will support HWF’s efforts to keep Big Island beaches magnificent and pure.

“Hawai’i is comprised of some of the most naturally spectacular and ecologically significant islands on the planet. Unfortunately, some of the Big Island’s remote southern beaches now act as catch points for the Great Pacific Garbage Patch debris – upwards of 80% of which comes from consumer waste generated off-island,” Soul Community Planet Co-Founder and CEO Ken Cruse stated in a SCP press release Friday, June 4. “We are honored to serve HWF’s efforts to maintain the beauty of Hawai’i’s shorelines and to protect its marine wildlife and eco-systems, but to be clear, cleaning up Hawai’i’s beaches is a matter of treating a symptom, rather than addressing the cause.”

Through the Pristine Makai program, Cruse said, they hope to not only help keep Hawai’i’s beaches beautiful but also bring awareness – and inspire change – to the far-reaching consequences of “our throw-away society.”

Through the Pristine Makai program, each stay at the SCP Hilo Hotel will facilitate HWF’s recovery of approximately 2.2 pounds of marine debris which has found its way from around the Pacific Ocean to the Big Island’s remote southern beaches (2.2 pounds is roughly equivalent to the amount of consumer waste generated per day during a typical hotel stay). The program contributes to HWF’s larger efforts to remove an estimated 15-20 tons of plastics and other marine debris each year and supports other important research, art, re-use and habitat restoration initiatives.

“Our Pristine Makai partnership with SCP and the SCP Hilo Hotel enables our important conservation work to continue,” stated said Megan Lamson, Hawai’i Wildlife Fund Board President and Hawai’i Island Program Director. “It’s through these types of purposeful, conscious partnerships that we can meet our long-term goals and move toward net-zero waste initiatives.”

Hawai’i County Mayor Mitch Roth is supportive of the program.

“It is our priority to keep all of Hawai’i beautiful and unspoiled,” Roth said. “Protecting the fragile ecosystems of our islands is of the utmost importance. Public-Private initiatives such as SCP’s Pristine Makai program bring action, awareness and education, as well as inspiration for travelers to be more mindful of the footprints they leave, not only when they visit our beautiful island, but in how they live their daily lives back home.”