How Sunway Lagoon is reducing its carbon footprint in the long run

Sunway Lagoon collaborated with kindergartens for its sustainable education programme.

The line between fantasy and real life is often blurred at a theme park. But the reality of sustainability is something that many operators grapple with as guests become increasingly conscious of their holiday decisions.

Recent years have seen many theme parks around the world addressing myriad environmental issues. Disney introduced a recycling programme at their parks while Universal Studios Orlando in the United States installed eco-friendly lights.

On Sunway Lagoon’s part, the venue is set on minimising carbon footprint in the long run. Signage depicting the United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals can be seen around the park.

Sunway Lagoon has already implemented initiatives that support nine of these goals like quality education, responsible consumption and climate action.

Under the responsible consumption and climate action goals, the company employs practical measures like rain harvesting and the use of groundwater source for smarter water usage around the park.

“A few years ago, an unused ride (Wild Wild West) was taken out of the park. In its place now is a big water tank. Water from the tank, collected through rain harvesting, is now pumped to a few locations for the purpose of cleaning these areas as well as watering the plants, ” says Sunway Lagoon assistant general manager M. Magendaran.

For general cleaning and irrigation purposes around the park, water from the South Quay Lake is used. At the moment, the lake is being treated and gradually purified using a system that reverses water degradation.

Sunway Lagoon also introduced the use of “eco-bricks” during World Animal Day earlier this year. These bricks are essentially made using plastic bottles that can’t be recycled.

“The water bottles are cut up into smaller pieces and are then compacted to form a solid ‘brick’. These eco-bricks will be used to build something for the goat exhibit which will be launched during the next World Earth Day, ” Magendaran explains.

Additionally, Sunway Lagoon has also launched outreach programmes to educate the young on what it means to achieve sustainability in a practical way.