- 24. The Sustainable Conference
We talk about sustainability at conferences. We put it on the agenda. We feature it in the program notes. And then we hand everyone a single-use coffee cup, fill the goodie bag with things nobody asked for and call it a day. This episode is an honest look at the gap between what hospitality and tourism conferences say about sustainability and what they actually do and what organisers and attendees can do differently.
From starting the venue conversation early and rethinking the coffee station, to the psychology of free things, food waste that's costing Australia $36.6 billion a year, and why putting sustainability in its own session means most GMs will choose the revenue panel instead.
This episode also covers the attendee side so that you can show up at a conference without running yourself into the ground, why protecting your energy is a sustainability practice, and why the friend who turned up late every morning taught me something many years later.
Two Homes is for leaders who know that lasting performance, for people and planet, starts from the inside out. Two homes: the one we inhabit within, and the one we all share.
Intro and outro music: Brooks, Kai Engel
If you'd like to ask a question:
💌 Email - connect@plasticfreesea.co
🎙️ Drop a question in the comment box on Spotify
Sign up to emails to get insights, event invitations and opportunities to connect and be inspired to integrate sustainability for good 🌟
https://sarah-rhodes.myflodesk.com/news
Two Homes is part of my business, Plastic Free Southeast Asia an Australia Pacific specialist sustainability leadership consultancy, that is your partner in all authentic and aligned sustainability for tourism businesses and boards.
Please rate, subscribe and review to help more people find the meaningful conversations, insights and more guests into the conversation that helps you grow your business, and tend to your wellbeing, sustainably.
Follow on your preferred platforms:
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/plasticfreeseaa/
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/plasticfreeseaa/
Sarah on LI https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarah-rhodes-67a9b724/
Show Notes:
Food waste in Australia:
Food waste costs Australia approximately $36.6 billion per year and is responsible for around 3% of Australia's greenhouse gas emissions. Around 16% of food waste comes from the hospitality sector.
Source: End Food Waste Australia https://www.endfoodwasteaustralia.org
Carbon emissions baseline assessment for events:
The GHG Protocol provides methodology for calculating event emissions:
Reusable cup programs for events and venues:
Cup lending and washing systems are increasingly available for events search for reusable cup schemes in your city as local operators vary by region.
No Vacancy Expo Sydney 23 and 24 September 2026:
No Vacancy Bangkok 24 and 25 November 2026:
Related Two Homes episodes:
Episode 5 - Change the Default, Change the Outcome
Episode 14 - The Greenwash Dilemma
Episode 23 - The Sustainable Traveller
27m - Sep 15, 2026 - 23. The Sustainable Travellers Guide
If you're here listening to a podcast about sustainable tourism, chances are you also love to travel. This episode is about how traveling more mindfully, more intentionally and more sustainably almost always produces a better trip.
Referencing my time of living and working in Southeast Asia and doing responsible travel training with volunteers and visitors in Cambodia, as well as some of the questions that come up each time I do a workshop on this topic. This episode explores what sustainable travel actually means in practice.
From choosing direct flights and staying longer, to finding sustainable accommodation beyond the badge and the vague website copy, to navigating plastic in countries where tap water isn't safe, to the child safe tourism question and the voluntourism conversation. My practical, honest and personal guide to traveling in a way that does more good and less harm. Including the one destination that won't be on the itinerary: Antarctica.
Two Homes is for leaders who know that lasting performance, for people and planet, starts from the inside out. Two homes: the one we inhabit within, and the one we all share.
Intro and outro music: Brooks, Kai Engel
If you'd like to ask a question:
💌 Email - connect@plasticfreesea.co
🎙️ Drop a question in the comment box on Spotify
Sign up to emails to get insights, event invitations and opportunities to connect and be inspired to integrate sustainability for good 🌟
https://sarah-rhodes.myflodesk.com/news
Two Homes is part of my business, Plastic Free Southeast Asia, an Australia Pacific specialist sustainability leadership consultancy, that is your partner in all authentic and aligned sustainability for tourism businesses and boards.
Please rate, subscribe and review to help more people find the meaningful conversations, insights and more guests into the conversation that helps you grow your business, and tend to your wellbeing, sustainably.
Follow on your preferred platforms:
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/plasticfreeseaa/
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/plasticfreeseaa/
Sarah on LI https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarah-rhodes-67a9b724/
Show Notes:
Child safe tourism certification:
https://www.thecode.org — The Code for the Protection of Children from Sexual Exploitation in Travel and Tourism
ChildSafe Movement:
https://childsafe.humanitariangroup.org
Carbon offset verification — Gold Standard:
GSTC Hotel Certification:
https://www.gstcouncil.org/gstc-criteria/gstc-hotel-criteria/
Water filter bottles for travel — options worth researching:
Two Homes Episode 12 - Sense and Sensitivity: Fragrance in Hospitality with Alexx Stuart
Referenced in this episode re synthetic fragrances in hotel amenities
Blog posts on child safe tourism and responsible giving:
https://www.siemreap.net/guides/travel/why-you-shouldnt-give-money-to-begging-children/
35m - Sep 8, 2026 - 22. Kindness is The Way with Sophie Bretag
Could kindness be the antidote to survival mode? In today's episode I explore the strength behind kindness as a leadership metric with HR consultant and award-winning speaker Sophie Bretag. Through over two decades of working with leaders Sophie's uncovered some of the gems that really help humans thrive and we talk about the tough conversations, the difficult path of self-awareness and the opportunities available to all of us when we apply kindness to our approach.
From spending 5 minutes longer with your morning coffee, sunlight and feeling grass between your toes to difficult conversations and worthwhile outcomes, this conversation is warm, vulnerable and deeply important. Bring your curiosity and your beginners mind and enjoy.
Two Homes is for leaders who know that lasting performance, for people and planet, starts from the inside out. Two homes: the one we inhabit within, and the one we all share.
Intro and outro music: Brooks, Kai Engel
If you'd like to ask a question:
💌 Email - connect@plasticfreesea.co
🎙️ Drop a question in the comment box on Spotify
Sign up to emails to get insights, event invitations and opportunities to connect and be inspired to integrate sustainability for good 🌟
https://sarah-rhodes.myflodesk.com/news
Two Homes is part of my business, Plastic Free Southeast Asia - an Australia Pacific specialist sustainability leadership consultancy, that is your partner in all authentic and aligned sustainability for tourism businesses and boards.
Please rate, subscribe and review to help more people find the meaningful conversations, insights and more guests into the conversation that helps you grow your business, and tend to your wellbeing, sustainably.
Follow on your preferred platforms:
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/plasticfreeseaa/
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/plasticfreeseaa/
Sarah on LI https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarah-rhodes-67a9b724/
Show Notes:
The Kind Human Quotient
K - Know Yourself
I - Include with Intention
N - Nurture your Capacity
D - Demonstrate Conscious Leadership
Connect with Sophie Bretag:
https://www.instagram.com/sophiebretag/
Related Two Homes episodes:
Episode 2 - The Nervous System of Sustainable Leadership
Episode 15 - What the Best Leaders Are Doing Differently
Episode 18 - Duality: Permission to be in the Middle
Plastic Free Southeast Asia - sustainability leadership consultancy:
50m - Sep 1, 2026 - 21. What You Notice Changes Everything
What if the single most powerful sustainability tool available to any leader isn't a framework, but their own attention? This episode introduces the reticular activating system: the filter in your brain that decides what gets through to conscious awareness out of the millions of pieces of information arriving every second. You've experienced it without knowing it, you buy a red car and suddenly the same make and model of red cars are everywhere. The cars were always there. You just weren't primed to notice them.
This episode explores what happens when you guide your attention for sustainability opportunity. From the morning brief that changes what a team notices all day, to the walk through a property that surfaces what no audit ever will, to the connection between nervous system regulation and what the RAS can actually access, this is practical neuroscience applied to the work of building more sustainable hospitality businesses. When you train your attention to see things differently, that changes everything.
Two Homes is for leaders who know that lasting performance, for people and planet, starts from the inside out. Two homes: the one we inhabit within, and the one we all share.
Intro and outro music: Brooks, Kai Engel
If you'd like to ask a question:
💌 Email - connect@plasticfreesea.co
🎙️ Drop a question in the comment box on Spotify
Sign up to emails to get insights, event invitations and opportunities to connect and be inspired to integrate sustainability for good 🌟
https://sarah-rhodes.myflodesk.com/news
Two Homes is part of my business, Plastic Free Southeast Asia — an Australia Pacific specialist sustainability leadership consultancy, that is your partner in all authentic and aligned sustainability for tourism businesses and boards.
Please rate, subscribe and review to help more people find the meaningful conversations, insights and more guests into the conversation that helps you grow your business, and tend to your wellbeing, sustainably.
Follow on your preferred platforms:
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/plasticfreeseaa/
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/plasticfreeseaa/
Sarah on LI https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarah-rhodes-67a9b724/
Show Notes:
The reticular activating system is a network of neurons in the brainstem that regulates wakefulness and attention, filtering sensory information to prioritise what's relevant to current goals, beliefs and survival needs. It's the neurological basis for why we notice what we're primed to notice and why intention and repetition can change what we perceive.
Related Two Homes episodes:
Episode 2: The Nervous System of Sustainable Leadership
Episode 7: What If Your Body Is Your First Sustainability Audit?
Episode 15: What the Best Leaders Are Doing Differently
Episode 20: Why Greenwashing Might Be a Confidence Problem
Nia somatic movement practice:
Plastic Free Southeast Asia — sustainability leadership consultancy:
20m - Aug 25, 2026 - 20. How to Gain Confidence Whilst Forging New Paths
This episode looks at one of the underlying factors to the overclaiming and paralysis that's so prevalent in sustainability leadership: confidence. Not the bravado kind of confidence that deals in absolutes, dictates from the top and performs certainty it doesn't have. But the kind that feels relaxed and open in the chest. The kind that allows for nuance, invites different solutions and makes space for everyone in the room.
This episode explores where genuine confidence comes from, why it's so often confused with bravado, what the body knows before the mind does, and how authenticity, the alignment between what you know, what you believe and what you say, is the foundation that makes everything else possible. Including an honest look at what happens when commercial pressure asks leaders to claim more than they've done, and what it actually costs when they do.
Two Homes is for leaders who know that lasting performance, for people and planet, starts from the inside out. Two homes: the one we inhabit within, and the one we all share.
Intro and outro music: Brooks, Kai Engel
If you'd like to ask a question:
💌 Email - connect@plasticfreesea.co
🎙️ Drop a question in the comment box on Spotify
Sign up to emails to get insights, event invitations and opportunities to connect and be inspired to integrate sustainability for good 🌟
https://sarah-rhodes.myflodesk.com/news
Two Homes is part of my business, Plastic Free Southeast Asia — an Australia Pacific specialist sustainability leadership consultancy, that is your partner in all authentic and aligned sustainability for tourism businesses and boards.
Please rate, subscribe and review to help more people find the meaningful conversations, insights and more guests into the conversation that helps you grow your business, and tend to your wellbeing, sustainably.
Follow on your preferred platforms:
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/plasticfreeseaa/
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/plasticfreeseaa/
Sarah on LI https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarah-rhodes-67a9b724/
28m - Aug 18, 2026 - 19. The G in ESG
Today we complete the ESG picture with the G: governance. I challenge the idea that this is boring, this episode uncovers how governance is actually the glue that creates successful outcomes. It's the part that determines whether everything else actually works. From the gap between what gets agreed in the boardroom and what happens on the ground, to the split incentive problem between asset owners and operators, to what it actually means for a GM to be a governance actor, in this episode I aim to bring the G to life in a way that's practical, honest and directly relevant to how hospitality businesses make decisions every day.
We look at what governance theatre costs, what genuine tone from the top looks like, and why the most sustainably effective organisations aren't necessarily the ones with the most sophisticated policies, they're the ones where the outside actually matches the inside. Including an unexpected analogy at the end that might just change how you think about governance forever.
Two Homes is for leaders who know that lasting performance, for people and planet, starts from the inside out. Two homes: the one we inhabit within, and the one we all share.
Intro and outro music: Brooks, Kai Engel
If you'd like to ask a question:
💌 Email - connect@plasticfreesea.co
🎙️ Drop a question in the comment box on Spotify
Sign up to emails to get insights, event invitations and opportunities to connect and be inspired to integrate sustainability for good 🌟
https://sarah-rhodes.myflodesk.com/news
Two Homes is part of my business, Plastic Free Southeast Asia, an Australia Pacific specialist sustainability leadership consultancy, that is your partner in all authentic and aligned sustainability for tourism businesses and boards.
Please rate, subscribe and review to help more people find the meaningful conversations, insights and more guests into the conversation that helps you grow your business, and tend to your wellbeing, sustainably.
Follow on your preferred platforms:
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/plasticfreeseaa/
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/plasticfreeseaa/
Sarah on LI https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarah-rhodes-67a9b724/
Reference notes:
B Corp Governance Standards — the six PSG principles referenced in this episode:
PSG1 — The company establishes a public purpose to make a meaningful positive impact
PSG2 — The company considers its impacts on stakeholders in decision-making
PSG3 — The company has adequate procedures to address stakeholder grievances
PSG4 — The company engages in responsible marketing and public relations
PSG5 — The company's social and environmental impact and stakeholder considerations are monitored by the highest governing body and integrated throughout the company
PSG6 — The company is transparent about its social and environmental performance
Full B Corp assessment: https://www.bcorporation.net/en-us/certification/
Australian Modern Slavery Act and register:
https://www.modernslavery.gov.au/about-modern-slavery/modern-slavery-australia
ASRS — Australian Sustainability Reporting Standards:
https://www.auasb.gov.au/pronouncements/auditing-standards/asa/asa-2026-4/
NABERS for Hotels:
https://www.nabers.gov.au/ratings/hotels
Caption by Hyatt Sydney — community space and stakeholder engagement model:
https://www.hyatt.com/caption-by-hyatt
Intrepid Travel wildlife policy:
https://www.intrepidtravel.com/en/responsible-travel/animal-welfare
Two Homes Episode 3 — Why Compliance Won't Save the Planet
Referenced in this episode
Two Homes Episode 11 — The Social in ESG
Referenced in this episode
Two Homes Episode 16 — The Emissions You Can't See
Referenced in this episode
27m - Aug 11, 2026 - 18. Duality: Permission to be in the Middle
Our tendency is to think in extremes, in all or nothing approaches. You're either sustainable or you're not. You're ready to talk about your progress or you're not. You're doing enough or you're failing. This episode is about all the other possibilities available to us when we resist the extremes and allow creativity to step in.The most honest, effective and sustainable place to lead from is the middle.
Drawing on the lotus growing through the mud, the permission to celebrate wins while acknowledging what's still in progress, and the practical reality of what it looks like to hold complexity without collapsing into either performance or paralysis, this is an episode about non-duality as a leadership practice.
It's a more accurate and courageous way of showing up, for your team, your guests, your operation and yourself. If you've been waiting until everything is perfect before you claim progress, this episode is for you.
Two Homes is for leaders who know that lasting performance, for people and planet, starts from the inside out. Two homes: the one we inhabit within, and the one we all share.
If you'd like to ask a question:
💌 Email - connect@plasticfreesea.co
🎙️ Drop a question in the comment box on Spotify
Sign up to emails to get insights, event invitations and opportunities to connect and be inspired to integrate sustainability for good 🌟
https://sarah-rhodes.myflodesk.com/news
Two Homes is part of my business, Plastic Free Southeast Asia - an Australia Pacific specialist sustainability leadership consultancy, that is your partner in all authentic and aligned sustainability for tourism businesses and boards.
Please rate, subscribe and review to help more people find the meaningful conversations, insights and more guests into the conversation that helps you grow your business, and tend to your wellbeing, sustainably.
Follow on your preferred platforms:
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/plasticfreeseaa/
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/plasticfreeseaa/
Sarah on LI https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarah-rhodes-67a9b724/
Intro and outro music: Brooks, Kai Engel
30m - Aug 4, 2026 - 17. The Most Expensive Myth in Hospitality
We've been operating under an assumption for decades: that sustainability costs money and profit comes first. This episode makes the case that the assumption is wrong and that for most hospitality businesses, not investing in sustainability is already costing more than investing would.
Category by category, we investigate the financial case: energy and water, where payback periods are often measured in months not years; waste and procurement, where what goes in the bin is a cost before it even gets there; staff retention, where Australian hospitality's 38.7% annual turnover is a crisis hiding in plain sight; and revenue and yield, where engaged staff, word of mouth, and corporate travel credentials are stacking up wins.
Then we look at what happens when all of these compound together over three to five years. And we ask the question that more operators need to be taking to their accountants: what is it actually costing us not to have started?
Two Homes is for leaders who know that lasting performance, for people and planet, starts from the inside out. Two homes: the one we inhabit within, and the one we all share.
If you'd like to ask a question:
💌 Email - connect@plasticfreesea.co
🎙️ Drop a question in the comment box on Spotify
Sign up to emails to get insights, event invitations and opportunities to connect and be inspired to integrate sustainability for good 🌟
https://sarah-rhodes.myflodesk.com/news
Two Homes is part of my business, Plastic Free Southeast Asia - an Australia Pacific specialist sustainability leadership consultancy, that is your partner in all authentic and aligned sustainability for tourism businesses and boards.
Please rate, subscribe and review to help more people find the meaningful conversations, insights and more guests into the conversation that helps you grow your business, and tend to your wellbeing, sustainably.
Follow on your preferred platforms:
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/plasticfreeseaa/
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/plasticfreeseaa/
Sarah on LI https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarah-rhodes-67a9b724/
Intro and outro music: Brooks, Kai Engel
22m - Jul 28, 2026 - 16. The Emissions You can't See - What is Scope 3?
Most hotels know what their energy bill looks like but visibility on supply chain emissions are a little more hidden. This episode changes that. Starting with the basics: what Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions actually are and why Scope 3 is usually the biggest footprint and the most ignored as we explore the hidden emissions sitting inside every purchasing decision a hotel makes.
From the cloud in your teacup to the beef on your menu, from guest travel to linen supply chains, this is a practical and human look at what emissions reporting actually means for hospitality operators.
Whether you're in Australia navigating ASRS obligations, or operating in Southeast Asia where similar requirements are arriving fast, this episode makes the case for getting curious before it becomes urgent. The full value of the three layers of emissions work, compliance, operational integration and strategic narrative, is only realised when all three are in play. And the operators who start early are already building an advantage.
Two Homes is for leaders who know that lasting performance, for people and planet, starts from the inside out. Two homes: the one we inhabit within, and the one we all share.
If you'd like to ask a question:
💌 Email - connect@plasticfreesea.co
🎙️ Drop a question in the comment box on Spotify
Sign up to emails to get insights, event invitations and opportunities to connect and be inspired to integrate sustainability for good 🌟
https://sarah-rhodes.myflodesk.com/news
Two Homes is part of my business, Plastic Free Southeast Asia - an Australia Pacific specialist sustainability leadership consultancy, that is your partner in all authentic and aligned sustainability for tourism businesses and boards.
Please rate, subscribe and review to help more people find the meaningful conversations, insights and more guests into the conversation that helps you grow your business, and tend to your wellbeing, sustainably.
Follow on your preferred platforms:
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/plasticfreeseaa/
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/plasticfreeseaa/
Sarah on LI https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarah-rhodes-67a9b724/
Intro and outro music: Brooks, Kai Engel
34m - Jul 21, 2026 - 15. What the Best Leaders are Doing Differently
Busy is not the same as effective. And yet in hospitality, and most of corporate Australia, the two have become almost indistinguishable. This episode makes the counterintuitive case that the most effective leaders aren't doing more. They're doing less, more intentionally. From the meeting that actually moves things forward versus the one that fills a calendar, to the pause before a decision that changes its outcome, to the team that starts the day with gardening and a cup of tea and outperforms the one running flat out. This episode looks at what operational effectiveness looks like when you stop mistaking motion for progress. When leaders design their systems for pace rather than urgency, the results are sustainable and often even better than expected. Staff stay longer and guests feel the difference. The output is better, not despite the slower approach, but because of it.
Two Homes is for leaders who know that lasting performance, for people and planet, starts from the inside out. Two homes: the one we inhabit within, and the one we all share.
If you'd like to ask a question:
💌 Email - connect@plasticfreesea.co
🎙️ Drop a question in the comment box on Spotify
Sign up to emails to get insights, event invitations and opportunities to connect and be inspired to integrate sustainability for good 🌟
https://sarah-rhodes.myflodesk.com/news
Two Homes is part of my business, Plastic Free Southeast Asia - an Australia Pacific specialist sustainability leadership consultancy, that is your partner in all authentic and aligned sustainability for tourism businesses and boards.
Please rate, subscribe and review to help more people find the meaningful conversations, insights and more guests into the conversation that helps you grow your business, and tend to your wellbeing, sustainably.
Follow on your preferred platforms:
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/plasticfreeseaa/
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/plasticfreeseaa/
Sarah on LI https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarah-rhodes-67a9b724/
Intro and outro music: Brooks, Kai Engel
25m - Jul 14, 2026 - 14. The Greenwashing Dilemma
Greenwashing is one of those words that gets thrown around as an accusation but most of it isn't intentional. It starts as a gap between what the marketing team says and what housekeeping actually does, between what the certificate claims and what the guest experiences when they arrive. This episode names the three patterns of greenwashing most common in hospitality: the marketing and operations disconnect, the certification shield, and the operators afraid of being accused of greenwashing so they say nothing and do nothing, leaving genuine work invisible. It also walks through the ACCC's eight principles for environmental claims, one of the most practically useful documents available for any operator wanting to communicate their sustainability journey honestly. Because the antidote to greenwashing isn't silence and it isn't perfection. It's integrity. And integrity, as we've explored across this series, is simply the outside looking like the inside.
Two Homes is for leaders who know that lasting performance, for people and planet, starts from the inside out. Two homes: the one we inhabit within, and the one we all share.
Intro and outro music: Brooks, Kai Engel
References:
ACCC Making Environmental Claims: A Guide for Business (2023)
The eight principles referenced throughout this episode.
https://www.accc.gov.au/system/files/greenwashing-guidelines.pdf
ACCC Greenwashing enforcement actions
The ACCC actively tracks and fines companies for greenwashing — their enforcement page shows real examples.
https://www.accc.gov.au/business/compliance-and-enforcement
Tourism Australia - Green Is Our Gold
The practical sustainability tool for Australian tourism operators referenced at the close of the episode.
https://www.tourism.australia.com/en/resources/campaign-resources/green-and-gold.html
Two Homes Episode 3: Why Compliance Won't Save the Planet
Referenced in this episode - compliance as a ceiling.
Two Homes Episode 6 - The Certification Trap
Referenced in this episode - certification as destination rather than direction.
If you'd like to ask a question:
💌 Email - connect@plasticfreesea.co
🎙️ Drop a question in the comment box on Spotify
Sign up to emails to get insights, event invitations and opportunities to connect and be inspired to integrate sustainability for good 🌟
https://sarah-rhodes.myflodesk.com/news
Two Homes is part of my business, Plastic Free Southeast Asia - an Australia Pacific specialist sustainability leadership consultancy, that is your partner in all authentic and aligned sustainability for tourism businesses and boards.
Please rate, subscribe and review to help more people find the meaningful conversations, insights and more guests into the conversation that helps you grow your business, and tend to your wellbeing, sustainably.
Follow on your preferred platforms:
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/plasticfreeseaa/
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/plasticfreeseaa/
Sarah on LI https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarah-rhodes-67a9b724/
32m - Jul 7, 2026 - 13. What Plastic Free July is Actually About
July 1st. Plastic Free July begins today and this episode has been eleven years in the making. From discovering the campaign in 2014, to launching six consecutive campaigns across hospitality and tourism teams across Cambodia, to finally bringing it to Sydney, this is the episode where the personal journey and the professional case come together. Because Plastic Free July isn't really about plastic. It's about what happens when a team has a shared goal, a clear timeframe, and permission to figure it out together. The plastic reduction is what comes out the other side. The culture, the pride, the camaraderie, that's what you're actually building.
This episode covers what Plastic Free July actually is, the five single use plastics worth focusing on, the science behind why reducing them matters more than most people realise, and the practical case for why running a PFJ campaign with your hospitality team this month is one of the most effective staff engagement and culture-building tools available. You don't need to care about plastic to run this. You need to care about your team. And if you're still hesitating... if not July, when?
Nature Medicine: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-026-04324-7
UWA official news release: https://www.uwa.edu.au/news/article/2026/april/research-shows-fast-and-effective-way-to-reduce-plastics-in-body
After seven days, phthalate levels dropped by more than 44% and bisphenol levels fell by more than 50% compared to the control group.
The next Perth Trial will investigate plastic chemical exposure and fertility - a topic we touch on in episode 12.
Get your free guide to Plastic Free July for Hospitality Team: https://sarah-rhodes.myflodesk.com/pfj-for-teams
Two Homes is for leaders who know that lasting performance, for people and planet, starts from the inside out. Two homes: the one we inhabit within, and the one we all share.
If you'd like to ask a question:
💌 Email - connect@plasticfreesea.co
🎙️ Drop a question in the comment box on Spotify
Sign up to emails to get insights, event invitations and opportunities to connect and be inspired to integrate sustainability for good 🌟
https://sarah-rhodes.myflodesk.com/news
Two Homes is part of my business, Plastic Free Southeast Asia - an Australia Pacific specialist sustainability leadership consultancy, that is your partner in all authentic and aligned sustainability for tourism businesses and boards.
Please rate, subscribe and review to help more people find the meaningful conversations, insights and more guests into the conversation that helps you grow your business, and tend to your wellbeing, sustainably.
Follow on your preferred platforms:
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/plasticfreeseaa/
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/plasticfreeseaa/
Sarah on LI https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarah-rhodes-67a9b724/
Intro and outro music: Brooks, Kai Engel
38m - Jun 30, 2026 - 12. Sense and Sensitivity: Fragrance in Hospitality, with Alexx Stuart
Scent is the only sense with a direct channel to the limbic system, the part of the brain that processes emotion, memory and safety. It's why the smell of a place can transport you instantly to another time. And it's why what hotels pump into their lobbies, spray in their bathrooms and wash their linen with matters far more than most operators realise.
In this first guest episode of Two Homes, sustainability leadership consultant Sarah Rhodes is joined by Alexx Stuart, founder of Low Tox Life, author, hospitality consultant and former fragrance industry insider, for a conversation about what synthetic fragrance is actually doing to hotel guests, to the staff working in those environments every day, and to the bottom line.
From phthalates and hormone disruption to the $33 billion annual cost of absenteeism in Australia, this episode makes the case that fragrance is not a finishing touch, it's a sustainability issue. And it ends somewhere hopeful: what genuinely beautiful, place-based, low tox scent experiences could look like in hospitality done well.
Connect with Alexx Stuart on LinkedIn.
Get this very generous fragrance guide that Alexx prepared to help you get started on revising how you do fragrance in your venue.
Take a closer look at what's good and what's bad in fragrance related products.
Two Homes is for leaders who know that lasting performance, for people and planet, starts from the inside out. Two homes: the one we inhabit within, and the one we all share.
If you'd like to ask a question:
💌 Email - connect@plasticfreesea.co
🎙️ Drop a question in the comment box on Spotify
Sign up to emails to get insights, event invitations and opportunities to connect and be inspired to integrate sustainability for good 🌟
https://sarah-rhodes.myflodesk.com/news
Two Homes is part of my business, Plastic Free Southeast Asia - an Australia Pacific specialist sustainability leadership consultancy, that is your partner in all authentic and aligned sustainability for tourism businesses and boards.
Please rate, subscribe and review to help more people find the meaningful conversations, insights and more guests into the conversation that helps you grow your business, and tend to your wellbeing, sustainably.
Follow on your preferred platforms:
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/plasticfreeseaa/
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/plasticfreeseaa/
Sarah on LI https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarah-rhodes-67a9b724/
Intro and outro music: Brooks, Kai Engel
1h 3m - Jun 23, 2026 - 11. The S in ESG
The E in ESG gets almost all the attention. The S, social sustainability, is the least examined, understood and actioned aspect of the three. And yet it touches everything: how staff are treated, what's in the supply chain, how a business relates to its community and whether modern slavery is something happening in your operation without your knowledge.
This episode makes the case that genuine social sustainability isn't about charity giving, volunteer days or wellness apps it's about how a business operates end to end, from the people it employs to the products it buys to the community it belongs to. Drawing on data from Australian hospitality's 38.7% staff turnover rate, the 41,000 people in modern slavery conditions in Australia right now, and examples from Southeast Asia and here at home, this episode goes to the places most sustainability conversations don't. Because the S in ESG isn't a soft topic. It's where the commercial, the human and the ethical all meet.
References from this episode:
Redundant Charities book: https://www.redundantcharities.com/
Ocean film: https://silverbackfilms.tv/shows/oceanwithdavidattenborough/
64% of hospitality staff in Australia are on casual contracts Source: Sidekicker https://sidekicker.com/blog/what-are-the-minimum-hours-for-casual-workers-in-hospitality
52% casual/part-time across all Australian industries (comparison figure) Source: Australian hospitality industry statistics overview https://resdiary.com/blog/2024-hospitality-industry-statistics-in-australia
38.7% staff turnover rate in Australian hospitality in 2024 — highest of any sector Source: Allara Global, citing Hospitality and Catering News, March 2025 https://allaraglobal.com/blog/entry/retention-over-turnover-hospitality-leaders-playbook
$30,000 average cost per departure Source: ScaleSuite, citing Australian HR Institute 2023 https://www.scalesuite.com.au/resources/staff-turnover-rate-and-workforce-churn-australia
National average turnover 8–9.5% — hospitality more than four times that Source: ScaleSuite https://www.scalesuite.com.au/resources/staff-turnover-rate-and-workforce-churn-australia
The "retention gap" — industry isn't short of people, it's short of workplaces worth staying in Source: Jobs and Skills Australia Better Together Report 2024, via Hospitality Magazine https://www.hospitalitymagazine.com.au/retention-gap-drives-hospitality-staff-shortages/
Direct JSA source: https://www.jobsandskills.gov.au/data/occupation-shortage
Organisations that promote internally retain employees 41% longer Source: Foremind, citing Australian turnover research https://www.foremind.com.au/post/employee-turnover-statistics
Engaged employees 15% less likely to leave / poor culture linked to 30% higher turnover Source: ScaleSuite, citing AHRI 2023 https://www.scalesuite.com.au/resources/staff-turnover-rate-and-workforce-churn-australia
61% of Australian employees planning to change jobs in 2025 Source: Perkbox Beyond the Paycheck report https://www.perkbox.com/au/resources/blog/beyond-the-paycheck-retention-2025
42% of turnover is considered preventable Source: Foremind, citing Gallup research https://www.foremind.com.au/post/employee-turnover-statistics
Gallup primary source: https://www.gallup.com/workplace/646538/employee-turnover-preventable-often-ignored.aspx
Every $1 invested in mental health returns up to $4 Source: Black Dog Institute https://www.blackdoginstitute.org.au/resources-support/wellbeing/workplace-wellbeing/
66% of Australian workers reported feeling burnt out in 2024 — up 13% from 2022 Source: Allara Global, citing Wellness Designs Report 2024 https://allaraglobal.com/blog/entry/retention-over-turnover-hospitality-leaders-playbook
Sweden four day work week pilot — December 2023, 11 organisations, results Source: ZNetwork https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/swedens-four-day-workweek-pilot-shows-happier-more-productive-employees/
50 million people globally in modern slavery / 41,000 in Australia Source: Walk Free Global Slavery Index 2023, via Mercy Foundation https://www.mercyfoundation.com.au/latest_news/41000-people-in-modern-slavery-in-australia/
Walk Free primary source: https://www.walkfree.org/global-slavery-index/country-studies/australia/
Human trafficking reports in Australia — rising trend Source: Australian Federal Police media release https://www.afp.gov.au/news-centre/media-release/human-trafficking-reports-continue-increase-australia
Most recent AFP data (2024–25 all time high): https://www.afp.gov.au/news-centre/media-release/reports-human-trafficking-nearly-double-over-past-five-years
GECA eco-label certification — modern slavery requirements Source: GECA website https://geca.eco
Australian Modern Slavery Act and register Source: Australian Government Modern Slavery Register https://www.modernslavery.gov.au/about-modern-slavery/modern-slavery-australia
Oz Harvest corporate cooking program Source: OzHarvest website https://www.ozharvest.org/what-we-do/corporate/
Two Good Co Source: Two Good Co website https://twogood.com.au/
Two Homes is for leaders who know that lasting performance, for people and planet, starts from the inside out. Two homes: the one we inhabit within, and the one we all share.
If you'd like to ask a question:
💌 Email - connect@plasticfreesea.co
🎙️ Drop a question in the comment box on Spotify
Sign up to emails to get insights, event invitations and opportunities to connect and be inspired to integrate sustainability for good 🌟
https://sarah-rhodes.myflodesk.com/news
Two Homes is part of my business, Plastic Free Southeast Asia - an Australia Pacific specialist sustainability leadership consultancy, that is your partner in all authentic and aligned sustainability for tourism businesses and boards.
Please rate, subscribe and review to help more people find the meaningful conversations, insights and more guests into the conversation that helps you grow your business, and tend to your wellbeing, sustainably.
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Intro and outro music: Brooks, Kai Engel
43m - Jun 16, 2026 - 10. Personal Sustainability: From the Inside Out
What does it actually look like to practice what you preach? This episode turns the lens inward, not on a client or a hotel, but on the business and my life. Ten episodes in, this is an honest look at what personal sustainability means beyond the professional, how comfort can become the enemy of change, what it takes to stay resourced enough to keep doing meaningful work, and why the inner home needs as much attention as the outer one. Drawing on eleven years in the field, a pandemic that forced an uncomfortable journey inward, and the slow integration of movement, presence and mindful consumption into daily life, this episode explores the thread that runs beneath everything: when we genuinely take care of ourselves, taking care of the planet starts to feel less like obligation and more like the natural thing to do. Not perfect or righteous, just integrated.
Two Homes is for leaders who know that lasting performance, for people and plane, starts from the inside out. Two homes: the one we inhabit within, and the one we all share.
If you'd like to ask a question:
💌 Email - connect@plasticfreesea.co
🎙️ Drop a question in the comment box on Spotify
Sign up to emails to get insights, event invitations and opportunities to connect and be inspired to integrate sustainability for good 🌟
https://sarah-rhodes.myflodesk.com/news
Two Homes is part of my business, Plastic Free Southeast Asia - an Australia Pacific specialist sustainability leadership consultancy, that is your partner in all authentic and aligned sustainability for tourism businesses and boards.
Please rate, subscribe and review to help more people find the meaningful conversations, insights and more guests into the conversation that helps you grow your business, and tend to your wellbeing, sustainably.
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Intro and outro music: Brooks, Kai Engel
41m - Jun 9, 2026 - 9. What integration actually looks like
It's one thing to talk about sustainability. It's another thing entirely to see it alive in a team, not as a policy, not as a certificate on the wall, but as genuine pride, creativity and joy in how people show up for work every day. This episode gets concrete. From working with Treeline Urban Resort in Siem Reap, Cambodia, one of the most genuinely integrated sustainability examples I've seen, we explore what it actually looks like when sustainability stops being an add-on and becomes part of the culture. From back of house waste audits to a Plastic Free July waste-to-art competition that left an entire team beaming, this is the episode that answers the question that's been building across the series: does any of this actually work? It does. And this is what it looks like.
Two Homes is for leaders who know that lasting performance, for people and planet, starts from the inside out. Two homes: the one we inhabit within, and the one we all share.
If you'd like to ask a question:
💌 Email - connect@plasticfreesea.co
🎙️ Drop a question in the comment box on Spotify
Sign up to emails to get insights, event invitations and opportunities to connect and be inspired to integrate sustainability for good 🌟
https://sarah-rhodes.myflodesk.com/news
Two Homes is part of my business, Plastic Free Southeast Asia - an Australia Pacific specialist sustainability leadership consultancy, that is your partner in all authentic and aligned sustainability for tourism businesses and boards.
Please rate, subscribe and review to help more people find the meaningful conversations, insights and more guests into the conversation that helps you grow your business, and tend to your wellbeing, sustainably.
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Intro and outro music: Brooks, Kai Engel
39m - Jun 2, 2026 - 8. Where to Start Without Overhauling Everything
Eight episodes in and we've covered a lot of ground, compliance ceilings, burnout, certification traps, default systems. If you've been listening from the beginning, you might be feeling the weight of it. This episode is the exhale. Because the most important thing isn't having a perfect strategy or a complete overhaul, it's starting. Somewhere, anywhere, as long as you start. Drawing on a client story about a frustrated leader, a compost bin that became a cultural moment, and the very human difference between telling people what to do and actually communicating with them, this episode maps out what beginning really looks like in practice. Including the difference between a stop gap (mopping up the water) and a starting point that turns the tap. Plus three practical things you can do before next week's episode that won't add anything to your already full plate.
Two Homes is for leaders who know that lasting performance, for people and planet, starts from the inside out. Two homes: the one we inhabit within, and the one we all share.
If you'd like to ask a question:
💌 Email - connect@plasticfreesea.co
🎙️ Drop a question in the comment box on Spotify
Sign up to emails to get insights, event invitations and opportunities to connect and be inspired to integrate sustainability for good 🌟
https://sarah-rhodes.myflodesk.com/news
Two Homes is part of my business, Plastic Free Southeast Asia - an Australia Pacific specialist sustainability leadership consultancy, that is your partner in all authentic and aligned sustainability for tourism businesses and boards.
Please rate, subscribe and review to help more people find the meaningful conversations, insights and more guests into the conversation that helps you grow your business, and tend to your wellbeing, sustainably.
Follow on your preferred platforms:
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Sarah on LI https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarah-rhodes-67a9b724/
Intro and outro music: Brooks, Kai Engel
35m - May 26, 2026 - 7. What if your Body is the First Sustainability Audit
What if the most important sustainability metric in your organisation isn't carbon, water or waste but the state of the people doing the work? This episode gets personal. Drawing on six years of somatic movement practice, a pandemic that forced an uncomfortable journey inward and eleven years of watching sustainability professionals override their own signals in service of systems that weren't built to support them. We explore what it actually means to listen to the body as a source of data because the body feels the gap between what's written on paper and what's actually happening. It registers depletion, disconnection and fabricated urgency long before the burnout becomes visible. And when we learn to pay attention to that, when we slow down enough to let the inner and outer worlds come into conversation, something shifts. Not just personally, but in how we show up for the work that matters most. We measure carbon, water and waste. We don't measure depletion. This episode makes the case that maybe we should.
Two Homes is for leaders who know that lasting performance, for people and planet, starts from the inside out. Two homes: the one we inhabit within, and the one we all share.
If you'd like to ask a question:
💌 Email - connect@plasticfreesea.co
🎙️ Drop a question in the comment box on Spotify
Sign up to emails to get insights, event invitations and opportunities to connect and be inspired to integrate sustainability for good 🌟
https://sarah-rhodes.myflodesk.com/news
Two Homes is part of my business, Plastic Free Southeast Asia - an Australia Pacific specialist sustainability leadership consultancy, that is your partner in all authentic and aligned sustainability for tourism businesses and boards.
Please rate, subscribe and review to help more people find the meaningful conversations, insights and more guests into the conversation that helps you grow your business, and tend to your wellbeing, sustainably.
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Intro and outro music: Brooks, Kai Engel
33m - May 19, 2026 - 6. The Certification Trap
Getting certified is one thing. Living it is another. This episode draws on eleven years of working inside sustainability certification schemes to explore why so many hotels and organisations achieve certification and then quietly fall back into business as usual. From a luxury Bangkok hotel displaying a GSTC certificate that bore little resemblance to what was happening operationally, to a GM transition that unravelled months of deep sustainability work, the pattern is consistent and it is systemic. Not a failure of individuals, and not a failure of the schemes themselves but a failure of how certification is treated. As a destination rather than a direction. As a shield rather than a standard. This episode makes the case for certification done differently; embedded, continuous, and owned by the whole team rather than carried by one. Because certification should be the recognition of sustainability you already live, not the proof of sustainability you're performing.
Two Homes is for leaders who know that lasting performance, for people and planet, starts from the inside out. Two homes: the one we inhabit within, and the one we all share.
If you'd like to ask a question:
💌 Email - connect@plasticfreesea.co
🎙️ Drop a question in the comment box on Spotify
Sign up to emails to get insights, event invitations and opportunities to connect and be inspired to integrate sustainability for good 🌟
https://sarah-rhodes.myflodesk.com/news
Two Homes is part of my business, Plastic Free Southeast Asia - an Australia Pacific specialist sustainability leadership consultancy, that is your partner in all authentic and aligned sustainability for tourism businesses and boards.
Please rate, subscribe and review to help more people find the meaningful conversations, insights and more guests into the conversation that helps you grow your business, and tend to your wellbeing, sustainably.
Follow on your preferred platforms:
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Intro and outro music: Brooks, Kai Engel
41m - May 12, 2026 - 5. Change the Default, Change the Outcome
Strategy won't save you. Policy won't either. What actually determines whether a hotel operates sustainably isn't what's written in the handbook it's what happens when nobody's thinking about it. This episode gets practical, looking at the default systems running quietly in the background of hotel operations: the thermostat nobody questions, the towel that gets replaced anyway, the amenities order that renews itself, the energy consumption nobody's tracking beyond the guest room. Drawing on real examples from the field, we explore why sustainable outcomes depend on system design far more than willpower and what it actually looks like to change the default so that the right thing happens automatically, for guests, for staff and for your bottom line.
Two Homes is for leaders who know that lasting performance, for people and planet, starts from the inside out. Two homes: the one we inhabit within, and the one we all share.
If you'd like to ask a question:
💌 Email - connect@plasticfreesea.co
🎙️ Drop a question in the comment box on Spotify
Sign up to emails to get insights, event invitations and opportunities to connect and be inspired to integrate sustainability for good 🌟
https://sarah-rhodes.myflodesk.com/news
Two Homes is part of my business, Plastic Free Southeast Asia - an Australia Pacific specialist sustainability leadership consultancy, that is your partner in all authentic and aligned sustainability for tourism businesses and boards.
Please rate, subscribe and review to help more people find the meaningful conversations, insights and more guests into the conversation that helps you grow your business, and tend to your wellbeing, sustainably.
Follow on your preferred platforms:
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/plasticfreeseaa/
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Sarah on LI https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarah-rhodes-67a9b724/
Intro and outro music: Brooks, Kai Engel
33m - May 5, 2026
