Discover on this presentation a listing of the different sustainable practices of Totoco Ecolodge on Ometepe Island in Nicaragua. I visited Totoco during my Hospitality Tour through Central America and wrote articles on Hopineo.org.

1. ECO-LODGE
OMETE ISLAND, NICARAGUA
www.totoco.com.ni - ecolodge@totoco.com.ni - (+505) 83587718

2. SUSTAINABLE PRACTICES
Social Responsibility
Local Development
Travelers’ awareness
Local Heritage & Biodiversity
Transport & Green Mobility
Energy
Waste
Water
Agriculture and Catering
Construction

3. ENERGY MANAGEMENT
• 100% renewable energy, Totoco Ecolodge is of f -gr id: energy product ion through
solar panels (ver y occasional use of the generator ) , energy savings (hal f LED and
hal f halogene bulbs, no ai r condi t ioning, no T V, heat water using gas and compost
system) .
• Cur rent Project : produce clean cooking gas using a biodigestor .

4. WASTE MANAGEMENT
Separat ion and responsible disposal of 100% of al l waste:
• Organic : 80% goes to the pigs (and compost is done f rom pigs manure) , qual i ty
c o mp o s t ( f r o m c o f f e e , e g g s s h e l l s … ) , l o w q u a l i t y c o mp o s t ( u s e d f o r m u l c h i n g ) ;
• Metal : a resource which is sold;
• Glass : the main par t is on deposi t and goes then back to the company, or
donat ions are done to reused them. Broken glasses can be mixed wi th cement for
example.
• Plast ic: high qual i ty one is recycled in Managua, a plast ic shredder col lects i t on
the island, bad qual i ty one is col lected and stored caut iously wai t ing for future
solut ions.
Cur rent Project : develop homemade natural cleaning products.

5. WATER MANAGEMENT
• Cleaning and reusing 100% of grey water through biof i l ters .
• Exclusive use of dr y (water - f ree) compost ing toi lets.
• Draught tolerant t ree species, dr ip i r r igat ion and aquaponics .

6. AGRICULTURE & CATERING
• The restaurant produce come f rom local and organic sur rounding farms (a par t
f rom the Totoco Ecofarm i tsel f )
• Totoco Ecofarm includes 2ha wi th 500 f rui t t rees & 500m² di versi f ied smal l -
holding using draught tolerant t ree species, plant ing ni t rogen - f ixing cover -crops,
dr iping i r r igat ion in the herb & vegetable garden, animal husbandr y, processing
crops to add value, applying natural pest icides, volunteer program.
• Cur rent Projects : organic honey, aquaponics , processing faci l i ty, learning center.

7. CONSTRUCTION
• Designed the di f ferent st ructures wi th passi ve cool ing in mind.
• Worked exclusively wi th ver y local labor f rom Balgüe and Madronal .
• Used local and renewable mater ial when possible.
• Act ively planted future const ruct ion mater ial ( for example palm t rees for natural
thatch roofs, cedar s t rees for wood, special ly impor ted const ruct ion grade bamboo
species) .

8. SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY
• Totoco Foundat ion suppor ts di f ferent local development programs as: micro- loans
(colateral - f ree and low- interest ) for 26 smal l star t -up businesses, express
t ranspor ts for students, ful ly equipped and staf fed cl inical laborator y for a local
publ ic heal th center, 2 communi ty l ibrar ies wi th over 2000 books, remedial
classes programs using l icensed nicaraguan teacher s, promotes and sel ls
handcraf ts f rom Ometepe Island fami l ies establ ishing relat ionships di rect ly wi th
the ar t isans .
• 100% local labor laws are proact ively enforced (social secur i ty, pay ing vacat ions
t i me , r e s p e c t i n g w o r k i n g h o u r s … ) .

9. LOCAL DEVELOPMENT
• Employ 19 ful l - t ime staf f and are t raining some of them to get manager ial
posi t ions in the future.
• Focus on the 3 main-core act ivi t ies of the hotel (accommodat ion, restaurant and
bar ser v ices) and empower independent ent repreneur s to provide al l other
p e r i p h e r a l s e r v i c e s ( a c t i v i t i e s , t r a n s p o r t , e t c … ) .
• Cur rent Project : Aim to slowly int roduce an employee -share-scheme.

10. TRAVELERS’ AWARENESS
• General informat ion in the hotel leaf let , on the websi te, dur ing the Totoco Tour.
• The General Manager makes a lot of ef for t to engage the guests and shares i ts
exper ience.

11. LOCAL HERITAGE & BIODIVERSITY
• Present the guests wi th a wide range of act iv i t ies and tour s, such as a cul tural
tour where people go wi th Pat r icia (Foundat ion Di rector ) v isi t ing the communi ty,
p e t r o g l y p h s t o u r, l o c a l w i l d l i f e a n d b i o d i v e r s i t y t o u r s , e t c …

12. TRANSPORT & GREEN MOBILITY
• Of fer hiking t racks, hor se back r iding tour s, bike rental .
• Cur rent project : int roducing a carbon of f set program for our hotel operat ions
( including guests f l ights) .

13. ECO-LODGE
OMETE ISLAND, NICARAGUA
www.totoco.com.ni - ecolodge@totoco.com.ni - (+505) 83587718