Crew with a Cause: The Green Stewardess

After seeing the large amount of waste in yachting, Chief Stewardess and Purser Kiyra Rathbone created The Green Stewardess, which helps yacht crew make eco-friendly choices, including sourcing and testing “greener” products.

Even after a few years of being a chief stewardess, Rathbone still vividly remembers the first superyacht she worked on. “What struck me the most about the yacht was not only just how absolutely luxurious and breathtaking the interior and exterior of the fifty-five-meter superyacht was (and it really was!), but it was also the variety and amount of unnecessary plastic waste and chemicals that was present each day,” she says.

Since then, she has pursued, researched, and sourced a variety of eco-friendly alternatives to replace the pollutants found on board yachts nowadays. It began as a personal endeavor to find products that were actually eco-friendly (and not just labeled as such) and effective to use on the yachts she was employed on. Today, The Green Stewardess has a sales agency agreement for most of the products that they distribute and ensures that the supplies are eco-friendly, fairly priced, and effectively do the job that they’re needed to perform on board.

In April 2019, she took it from hobby to business by becoming an official business in the UK, where the headquarters is located. The Green Stewardess helps yachts in transitioning to more eco-friendly solutions and habits with their six solutions: using a water filtration system, a bean-to-cup coffee machine, eco-cleaning products, eco-friendly guest and crew toiletries, bamboo, and reusables (steel straws, aluminum water bottles, and cotton shopping bags).

“Each of us can do our bit, whether it’s on a yacht or simply in our everyday lives,” Rathbone says. “Planning and preparation are the two biggest factors to change your old habits to more eco-conscious ways. Choose eco-friendly solutions that cut out single-use plastics and harmful chemicals.”

An order with The Green Stewardess helps the earth in more than one way. For every order over a certain amount, they’ll pledge to plant a tree. Currently, the project is quite informal and they’re mainly planting fruit trees in South Africa, where they have a partner who has the land and labor to plant and care for the trees.

“Our hope for the future is that we will set up a NPO or NGO for outreach projects, and through the planting of fruit trees and other trees, we can start to assist the local communities with education and aid,” Rathbone says.

Her goal is to create a “greener and cleaner” future for yachting, along with everyone else, and to help as many yachts as she can to make the green transition and reduce single-use plastic and chemical pollution in the industry.

You can follow The Green Stewardess on Facebook and Instagram @thegreenstewardess and find out more about their service, eco-friendly products, and tips for being green.  

While The Green Stewardess is mainly based in the Mediterranean, they have supplied yachts in the U.S. and will continue to do so as the business grows. The best way to contact them, order, and any inquiries is via email: k@remyachting.com, or through the contact form on the website. www.thegreenstewardess.com