The Mind Your Waste Foundation

The owner of E&E created the Mind Your Waste Foundation in 2015. It started in Turkey and now also has programs in Monaco, with plans to expand its message worldwide. The foundation educates people about proper disposal of garbage and encourages recycling and reuse. Among the foundation’s lobbying success stories, according to a spokeswoman, is that Turkish Airlines now hands out blankets wrapped in biodegradable material instead of plastic bags.

water bottles or drinks,” Ilgun says. “We have our own water-purifying system. Our guests coming on board, we give them a reusable water bottle with the Mind Your Waste logo on it, and we encourage them to use that bottle all the time, including when they go on shore. If they insist on a certain type of water, like Evian or something, we put it into these bottles so we don’t use any kind of plastic bottles or straws.” ¶ So far, he adds, charter clients have been happy to go along with the program. ¶ “Everybody is starting to believe that this world has limited resources,” he says. “There will be the end of clean water and clean air and a clean environment. Everybody respects that and believes that, in the future, we will all be on the same page. We had to start from somewhere, so we started.” ¶ The wideangle views of the water from on board E&E help to drive home what’s at stake. The yacht has an unusual layout, with the master stateroom in the traditional location forward on the main deck but with the other four guest staterooms one level up, with larger windows than are possible belowdecks. That level on E&E is for crew, including any extra staff a charter client wants to add. ¶ And if they want to pick up trash too, they are welcome to join in. “These things are like the sea star story,” Ilgun says, referring to what Americans call “The Starfish Story,” about every bit contributing toward change. “You have to start somewhere, and one day, it will make a difference. We have made the world very dirty. We have to clean it.”

PLASTIC IS SHUNNED ON BOARD, AND ONLY BIODEGRADABLE CLEANING PRODUCTS ARE USED TO SPIFF UP THE YACHT.

Two companies in the Netherlands had a strong hand in creating E&E: Vripack handled exterior design, while Art Line did the interiors. The Cizgi shipyard that constructed E&E in Turkey is now closed.

An educational piece from the yacht owner’s foundation.