NOVELTY OF THE INITIATIVE CONCEPT
Diva Lounge Spa is committed to support Qatar’s initiative in preserving the environment and protecting its natural resources.
We are known to be a business who is operating on a reliable and sustainable basis that respects ethical values, people, communities and environment.
We continue our efforts to become more sustainable by undertaking green and environment friendly initiatives in both our operations and treatments.
In late 2019, we decided to encourage the public to join our green initiatives. We placed recycling boxes in our branches and posted a campaign on social media encouraging our employees, clients and followers to bring any item suitable for recycling like empty milk bottles, soda cans, egg cartons etc. These items were then given to Arts & Crafts, a renowned art center to upcycle to art items. We received positive feedback for this initiative.
In February 2020, we organized a Recycling Plastic Workshop by Swapna, who taught the attendees how to upcycle empty plastic bottles into useful usage such as soap or pen holders.
Furthermore, during the lockdown period enforced on us due to the COVID 19 pandemic, March to August 2020, we encouraged our staff to spend their time undertaking recycling initiatives such as sewing masks out of unwanted sheets, and upcycling rubber tires to outdoor chairs & tables.
We always endorse our initiatives with a social media campaign to raise awareness about the importance of going green and how small changes can help a business become sustainable. We shared engaging content and video clips on our social media platforms which received positive engagement from our audience.
Our social media platforms showcase the small changes we are undertaking to ensure a better management of our resources and the sustainability of our business and how we are encouraging our followers, clients and employees to be environment friendly.
Our Social Media campaign focuses on the following points:
A. Water Management
B. Energy Management
C. Product & Waste Management
D. Sustainable Building Management
A. Water Management
We undertook several initiatives to manage our water consumption in a better way.
1. Waterless Treatments
We continue to offer a waterless technique for manicures & pedicures. We can safely claim that we are the only Spa in Qatar that has completely eliminated the use of water for hand & foot treatments. Our dry mani/pedi uses a moisturizing cream in a bio-degradable plastic glove.
This technique is more hygienic as each client has her own pair of socks and gloves and there is no soaking of feet in a basin that can often be a carrier of diseases. The waterless treatment has helped in saving water, products and towels. It has also reduced maintenance issues from malfunctioning of taps to water leakages.
2. Laundry Procedures
Our industry relies heavily on the usage of towels. We use 3 to 4 towels per treatment. We substituted thick towels with thinner linen so we can fit more linen per load in the washing machine. As towels absorb more water, only 3 can be washed at a time compared to 9 sheets of linen. This initiative led to saving of water, electricity and soap.
3. Boiling Water:
We have educated our employees to only boil the amount of water needed for coffee/tea, in order to reduce the wastage of water.
B. Energy Management
The initiatives we introduced to better manage our energy resources translated into saving our electricity expenses for these 2 years.
1. Laundry Procedures
Using thin linen sheets instead of thick towels resulted in less washing cycles and a reduction in the wear and tear of washing machines and dryers. This step lead to saving electricity and prolonging the life of the washing machines.
2. Lighting
To save on electricity, we:
- Use dimmers to control our lighting as they are energy efficient and help to control the amount of electricity sent to bulbs
- Use LED bulbs in all our branches as they consume less electricity
- Candles are used in treatments rooms for lighting & to diffuse scent
- We make use of natural lightening wherever possible
- We continuously encourage our therapists to switch off the lights & electrical appliances when there is no need for them
- We maintain only security lighting after business hours.
C. Product and Waste Management
Our initiatives have helped to better manage our products and eliminate waste where possible. Buying in bulk has reduced our cost by 5%.
1. Paper & Recycling
Our initiatives include:
- We no longer print our treatment menu. Instead our treatment menu and feedback form are on a tablet
- We make booklets out of used printed paper
- We make double-sided copies when printing and photocopying, wherever possible and we reuse envelopes
- We replaced retail paper bags with reusable material bags
- We recycle towels by using them for training, make mittens to be used in treatments, use them for cleaning or give away to charity
- We recycle disposable towels to use them for cleaning surfaces
- To manage waste, we purchase products in bulk size and decant into reusable containers
- We no longer use bottled water, instead filtered tap water with lemon & ginger is served to our & clients.
- During COVID-19 our therapists transformed our unwanted bedsheets into masks and distributed to our clients.
- We also upcycled rubber tires into chairs and tables for our outdoor area in our Al Gharafa branch.
2. Products
- We use non-toxic organic products that are 100% organic with no parabens, no preservatives and no additives with environment friendly packaging
- The products are handmade and produced in small batches to maintain freshness.
D. Sustainable Building Management
We have also taken several initiatives to create a green spa.
1. Eco Friendly Materials & Air Quality
The paint used for our interiors is eco-friendly low VOC (Volatile Organic Compound) paint. Unlike regular paint, eco-friendly paint is less harmful to health. We also make use of natural indoor plants to help purify the air.
2. Regular Maintenance
We attend to maintenance issues such as water leakages immediately to reduce wastage.
STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT
1. Our clients are important to us. We engage with them through:
- Birthday treatments – we send emails offering a free service and a cake on their birthdays
- Daily engagement on social media platforms to educate about our services, branches and promotions
- We organize Diva Chats, a platform to help educate women and raise awareness on issues related to health, wellbeing, beauty and fitness.
On the occasion of Breast Cancer Awareness month, we organized on 13th October 2021 our Diva Chat in partnership with West Bay Medicare in order to raise awareness of how early detection saves lives.
During the World Wellness weekend (18-19 September 2021) we offered a special wellness package to our clients and complimentary wellness activities & workshops like Zumba and facial consultation workshop.
2. Our employees are our most valuable asset. We offer them:
- Regular training to help them develop and grow professionally
- Teambuilding workshops and end of year celebrations with gifts and appreciation awards
- Continuous training on how to better manage products and resources
- Promote and encourage environmental awareness to ensure employees are aware of their environmental responsibilities
PARTNERSHIP AND COLLABORATION
We take our Corporate Social Responsibility seriously and continuously collaborate with other organizations and individuals to share knowledge and educate the community on the importance of healthy living and wellbeing. During 2019 & 2020:
- We organized a Diva Closet Ramadan Campaign in collaboration with Hifz Alnaema where we encouraged our clients to recycle their unwanted items
- We are starting to collaborate with the management of the Malls where we have our branches to spread the awareness about the sustainability to reach to more people, we will be placing bigger boxes for recycling inside the malls near our Spas and we will start stronger campaign from both sides to encourage more people to participate.
Corporate Partnerships
To promote wellness and inspire women to embrace a healthy lifestyle, we have corporate agreements with various organizations offering discounts to their female staff to encourage them to take care of their wellbeing, we are reaching out to other public and private companies to let them join our corporate deals.
