Sustainability
Our Mission
Our mission and goal is to be a positive and beneficial business for our workers, the Solarte Uno Community, and Bocas del Toro as a whole, while operating in a manner that is sustainable and as environmentally friendly as possible.
Powered by the Sun
We are entirely off-grid and generate our electricty from 28 solar panels located on the roof of our restaurant. Our solar system is large enough that we only have to use our backup generator less than 10 days out of the year. This is important to us, as the generators burn gasoline or propane, and that’s not really sustainable, is it? This is why we do not have A/C.
Our Workers
All of our workers come directly from our local community of Solarte Uno. This ensures that we are directly benefitting 5 different families in the community. We also encourage that our guests leave gratuity which we give entirely to our staff. This can often double their weekly salary! Additionally, we provide our workers with 0% interest micro loans, which to date have helped them build their houses, buy solar systems, boats, and water tanks.
Our Farm
Some of the food we provide in our restaurant comes directly from our farm. Our goal is to have a fully functioning permaculture farm that allows us to depend less on grocery stores for our food. We want to be as “island to table” as we can! We also purchase fruits and vegetables from our local neighbors and organic eggs when they are available.
Donations
In our short history in Solarte Uno we have donated:
- $2,000 worth of food during the pandemic.
- 1 Solar Inverter for the local school.
- $300 towards new uniforms for the local soccer team.
- 10% of all t-shirt sales towards the local woman’s volleyball team.
Constructing Sol Bungalows
The construction of Sol Bungalows was approved by the Ministry of the Environment and the Ministry of Aquatic Resources. The majority of our workforce during construction also came directly from Solarte Uno. We also built our bungalows with respect to the local colonial and indigenous styles.
Recyling & Reduction of Plastic Use
We recycle! And we also use a minimal amount of single use plastics. Metal straws instead of disposable plastic ones and hand towels instead of paper towels are some examples.
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