The Blue Apple Beach hotel in Cartagena, Colombia, has built an artisan’s workshop in partnership with Corona beer to enable local women to create homeware made from used beer bottles. Jenny Southan reports
Located on the island of Tierra Bomba, Cartagena, Colombia, Blue Apple Beach has been leading the way with recycling and upcycling in the region for years (read this story from 2019).
Now it has joined forces with multinational corporation Corona to build an on-site glass workshop to upcycle glass beer bottles and improve beverage recycling options in Cartagena and beyond.
In 2021, the beer brand offered sponsorship to Blue Apple Beach in exchange for product and brand placement.
Blue Apple’s founder, Portia Hart, instead suggested that the funds be directed to the Green Apple Foundation in order to build a Corona workshop for the Foundation’s female artisans, and in exchange, Blue Apple Beach would stock Corona beer. The deal was accepted and a grant of 30 million pesos (around £5,500) was received.
Since opening, the women have sold products to local business and tourists, they have established 26 corporate clients from Cartagena, Medellin and Bogota – supplying water glasses to restaurants around the country, and are making a range of products each week, all reducing the glass waste from the local tourism trade.
Hart says: “Our clients are informed – they are less likely to be inspired by sponsorship and product placement – but when they associate Corona with a project like this, and when they speak to the artisans and see first-hand, meaningful social and environmental impact, they connect.
Prior to this partnership and project, all Corona bottles in Cartagena were sent to landfill, as the city does not currently offer a municipal recycling system, nor does Corona offer a returnable bottling system.
Rooms at Blue Apple Beach House start from £120 per night based on two sharing. This includes return transport by boat to the island, breakfast and VIP access at the beach club. Full board pricing starts from £215 per night (based on two sharing).