Eco-Star Cristina McLauchlan Spreads the Word

New Zealand-born Hong Kong-based wellness advocate Cristina McLauchlan aims to achieve sustainability in all aspects of her life, but she has seen enough of the world to understand that a waste-free society is highly improbable. Tyler Nyquvest interviews McLauchlan for the South China Morning Post.

“Zero waste does not exist … as much as we want to believe we can achieve zero waste, our system is not set up for that and we need to reframe how we think about it,” McLauchlan tells the Morning Post.

McLauchlan has more than 20 years’ experience in the hospitality and events industries, which has exposed her to the vast carbon footprint they can leave on the planet.

“The air conditioning, the laundry service, the food waste, the tiny little plastic containers in every single hotel room … we just have so much unnecessary overconsumption,” she says.

To counter this, McLauchlan is spreading the word about sustainability in her role as a consultant – she works as sustainability consultant to hospitality group Marriott International – and through public speaking engagements.

She also started The Vibe Tribe, an online platform for like-minded professionals to share ideas on sustainable changes businesses and individuals can make.

McLauchlan wants to lead by example through the things she buys, but is frustrated by the dearth of sustainable personal care and beauty items such as menstrual products, make-up, and skincare products that are available. The global personal care industry – worth US$500 billion a year, according to National Geographic – packages almost everything it sells in plastic.

Original article by Tyler Nyquvest, South China Morning Post, September 9, 2019.