SUSTAINABILITY

The green agenda

Sustainability is becoming an increasingly important topic on the agenda for the tourism and hospitality sector. Two local operators share their tips and advice

Everything we do has an impact and want to tread as lightly as we can

Being sustainable not only reduces your impact on the environment, but helps you to improve your customer experience, support your local economy and stand out from your competitors. From only using local, sustainable produce in their menus, to cutting down on their single use plastics, to powering their accommodation with solar or wind power, harvesting rainwater or installing electric car charging points, there are plenty of ways we can all play a part in reducing our carbon footprint on the journey to the UK’s Net Zero strategy. Emma Fashokun is guest experience & CSR manager at luxury lettings specialist, Cornish Gems. “Reducing our carbon footprint is a topline goal for Cornish Gems this year,” she says. “We’ve set some ambitious targets, which we’re proud to be on the way to achieving – but we’re aiming high with an ambition to be carbon neutral in the future. We’re lucky to have a brilliant team, who’re all working hard to support our sustainability journey – lots of small steps, make great strides!” Emma says the company has already introduced a wave of positive change from reducing energy consumption, minimising waste, boosting social and community involvement, to winning a Green Tourism Award. “Since June 2021 we’ve planted 460 trees in communities all over the word, which has offset nearly 182 tonnes of CO2 emissions,” she says, “and we estimate this is equivalent to offsetting the carbon footprint of 3,575 car journeys from across the UK to Cornwall. “We’ve done this by planting a tree in honour of each of our owners for their ongoing support, gave our team the opportunity to ‘purchase’ a tree via our internal reward scheme and we also gift trees for employee’s birthdays too.” Emma says the sustainability process is ongoing, with Gems continually evaluating every aspect of its business to reduce waste, improve energy efficiency and decrease single use plastic consumption. “We’re also working on our biggest eco-project to date, a brand new in-house Green Grading property system – which going forward will help our owners and guests make more eco-conscious decisions to support responsible tourism.” Steve and Sarah Moss run Little Gwendreath Holiday Cottages on the Lizard Peninsula, which was recently commended at the South West Tourism Awards in the Ethical, Responsible and Sustainable category. “The low carbon agenda sits at the heart of our business,” says Sarah. “We are very conscious that everything we do has an impact and want to tread as lightly as we can; we are passionate about minimising our footprint. “We identified early on that energy use was the main chunk of our carbon footprint and it was therefore our initial focus. We installed solar panels in 2016, generating our own energy from Solar PV and Solar iboost for water heating. By replacing older appliances with energy efficient models, use of LED lighting and timers for external lighting we have reduced the amount of energy used. Any energy we do not generate ourselves is now sourced as 100% renewable energy. We have also installed electric vehicle charging points. “The climate and ecological emergencies mean that it is more urgent than ever to protect and restore our precious ecosystems. Operating

sustainably is also beneficial for the bottom-line as it drives cost-savings and future proofs the business, for us this is an added bonus.” Little Gwendreath Holiday Cottages has reviewed every aspect of its business from recycling and compost, through to which suppliers it works with. Sarah says: “With regards to waste, we encourage our guests to recycle and compost whilst they are on holiday the same way they would at home. To make it as simple as possible we use one bag for mixed recycling and sort the waste ourselves. Our cottages are free from single use plastic items and we provide refillable soaps and cleaning products. “We reviewed our suppliers ensuring we buy from businesses with a similar ethos. We focused on ethics, circularity and phosphate-free cleaning products. An information sheet is in the cottages and on our website so that our guests know where they can source the products from if they wish to do so. “Our guests can use items such as buckets, spades, and body boards free of charge from our Borrow Box.”

TEN TOP TIPS

Little Gwendreath Holiday

Cottages owner, Steve Moss, has this advice to businesses looking to reduce their carbon footprint. 1. Start measuring the energy and water you use, set a calendar reminder and take monthly meter readings - you need to know where you are today to know the impact of any changes

2. Once your baseline is established set targets for where you want to get to and by when - useful resources can be found via the Glasgow Declaration and the parallel Tourism Declares initiative

3. Review your supply chain against your sustainability requirements - taking energy suppliers as an example, most energy contracts are now at the price cap, so as there is less price competition between suppliers why not switch to one which uses 100% renewable sources?

4. Train staff in nature engagement - staff have the ability to enhance the guest experience through their interactions with guests, they can encourage support of local businesses and recommend local nature-based activities

5. Volunteer some of your spare time to local community groups e.g. beach cleans, litter picks, tree planting etc

6. Eliminate single use plastic

7. Go paperless

8. Introduce recycling and food composting facilities

9. When appliances reach the end of their useful life replace with energy efficient models

10. Install low energy LED lighting.