Star Sydney shines bright at 2023 NSW Accommodation Awards for Excellence
Accolades bestowed for environmental practices, conferences & events talent & 2023 Chef of the Year went to Chef De Cuisine Martino Pulito
At the 2023 NSW Accommodation Awards for Excellence, Star Sydney took home a number of prestigious awards including Best Environmental/Sustainability Practices, Conference and Events Talent of the Year, and Chef of The Year.
Star Sydney Sustainability Manager Jon Boys said it was an honour to be recognised for their sustainability strategy.
“Our new sustainability strategy, Responsible Business, Sustainable Destinations ensures we continue to look towards the future as part of our environmental, social and governance (ESG) focus,” Mr Boys said.
“The Star recognises the long-term value that our environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance creates for our guests, team members, investors and our broader community. We are committed to reaching a leadership position across ESG practices as well as sustainability performance and disclosure.
“We’ve made meaningful strides in sustainability, and it’s wonderful to have that recognised with this award but also it’s hugely important to maintain our momentum to develop and continuously improve our sustainability performance across our portfolio.”
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Mr Boys said that Star Sydney had worked on sustainability throughout the property, from undertaking third party certified environmental ratings of our buildings, conducting energy and water audits to support our energy and water efficiency project pipeline, textiles recycling, donations of obsolete furniture, fittings and equipment to charities.
Additionally, Star has implemented a unique carbon credits initiative- the purchase of Corymbia Farm.
Corymbia is a 170-hectare parcel of land near Gympie, Queensland and will help with future carbon emissions reduction, support biodiversity and bolster native forest regeneration.
As part of this project, work is currently underway to plant a new koala habitat. Looking forward, Star Sydney is continuing their sustainability journey with a lighting replacement program to commence in FY24.
“Older, inefficient halogen lighting are going to be replaced with more efficient LED lighting,” Mr Boys said.
“The project will provide direct energy and cost savings, as well as indirect maintenance savings due to improved reliability and extended lighting runtimes. 631 lights will be replaced, with expected savings of 149MWh and 159 tonnes of carbon per annum.”
Star Sydney is also expanding their obsolete textile recycling program to ensure 100 percent of the textile waste from hotels and uniforms is diverted from landfill, whilst working with textile recycling partners to repurpose and reuse the products across the business.
Martino Pulito was named ‘Chef of The Year’
The 2023 Chef of the Year is Chef De Cuisine Martino Pulito from Star Sydney’s Cucina Porto.
Chef Pulito said it was an honour to be recognised by the awards.
“My heart was full when I heard I had received the award, especially when they acknowledged me as an inspiration for the new generation,” he said.
“This was the third year in a row I had made the finals so to win made me so proud that I had been recognised for my dedication to my craft.
“It goes to show perseverance, persistence and hard work does pay off.”
With a commitment to freshly sourced, sustainable and simple food, Chef Pulito’s food ethos is all about allowing the produce to speak for itself.
Speaking about the success of Cucina Porto, Chef said one of his keys to success was staying flexible to the needs of the guests.
“We cook fresh to order so we can accommodate a guest’s individual requests, but of course always staying true to Italian authenticity,” he said.
“My goal is to make the entire dining experience memorable.”
As a self-confessed food lover, it’s difficult to select just one dish on Cucina Porto’s menu, but Chef Pulito can’t go past an old favourite.
“My comfort go-to is Capricciosa pizza (ham, mushrooms, artichokes and olives) because it brings people together, no matter what your age,” he said.
Sarah is a freelance journalist with experience across print, digital and audio. After working for Multimedia Publishing as a contributing writer, she has recently joined the team in a part-time capacity for School News AU and AccomNews.
