ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY
Protecting our landscape and environment is very important to us at The Montenotte Hotel. With everyone working together we can look forward to a cleaner and safer environment. We recognise that our business has an important role to play in protecting and enhancing the environment for future generations and to help secure the long-term sustainability of both our hotel and the hospitality Industry.
The Montenotte Hotel is a member of GreenHospitality.ie and GreenTravel.ie which is one of the few Irish environmental certification standards for the hospitality sector. We are delighted to be part of the Cork Convention Bureau’s GDSI environmental certification programme with GreenHospitality.ie along with several fellow hotelier members.
We are committed to the implementation of proactive measures to help protect and sustain the environment for future generations of our guests and employees and with this in mind we have created our GREEN LEAF PROGRAMME which is our internal environmental program. To minimise our carbon footprint, we have put the below policies in place.
OUR ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY & THE GREEN LEAF PROGRAMME
At the hotel we are committed to the following sustainable activities:
- To achieve sound environmental practices across our entire operation we measure the following: Energy consumption kwh per m2 per annum / litre water per sleeper/kg of food waste per cover/ kg of waste per sleeper.
- To produce an annual Environmental Plan setting out our Objectives, Targets and Action Plan
- To continuously comply with all the guidelines set out by our membership of GreenHospitality.ie and GreenTravel.ie
- To comply fully with all relevant legislation outlined by the Government of Ireland.
- To reduce and minimize, analyse and report monthly on our waste, electricity, gas, carbon, and water consumption reductions.
- To Reduce, Re-use and Recycle the resources consumed by our business wherever practical
- To invite our suppliers and contractors to participate in our efforts to protect the environment
OUR ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY & THE GREEN LEAF PROGRAMME CONTINUED...
We have created a Green Team led by Green Champion leader Meadhbh O'Callaghan who meet every 2 weeks to report and action all green opportunities for the hotel.
- To provide all employees with the training and resources required to meet our objectives as part of their induction and monthly training.
- To monitor and record our environmental impacts on a regular basis and compare our performance with our policies, objectives, and targets
- We have two electric vehicle charging points in the hotel car park.
- Our customers and guests will be made aware of our initiatives, and we will encourage them to help us achieve our environmental goals.
OUR CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY EFFORTS
Our corporate social responsibility efforts include:
- An Eco Taxi can be ordered with the reception team at the hotel for our guests with Free Now our Taxi provider.
- Our extensive corporate social responsibility extends that we currently work with a preferred charity which is TRÓCAIRE with their Women’s Empowerment Programme in Rwanda for their TVET placement project. This project targets to provide scholarship to 50 young women who will be part of TVET Training over the next 2 years as this programme aims to promote the participation of women in society.
OUR 2022/23 KPI’s AND GREEN PLEDGES
For 2022/23, our KPI's and Green Pledges are as follows:
- We plan to secure a 10% reduction in Water Consumption at the hotel
- We plan to secure a 10% increase in our Waste Diversion Rate at the hotel to nearly 1/3 of all waste
- We plan to reduce our electricity consumption by 5%
- We plan to reduce our gas consumption by 10%
- We will continue to be a business supporter of All Ireland Pollinator Plan 2021 – 2025
GREEN LEAF PROGRAMME – HOW YOU CAN HELP TOO..
We would like to enlist the help of YOU, our guests in achieving some of our environmental targets by requesting you to action the following during your stay.
- Turn off lights and electrical equipment when leaving your guest room including phone chargers, laptops, coffee machine
- Turn off taps when they are not in use and be mindful of your water consumption
- Limit the use of air-conditioning or heating where possible and turn it off when a window or door is open
- Shop locally during your stay with us and visit some of the wonderful local attractions that Cork has to offer
- Consider walking or using public transport where possible during your visit.
Should you have any further suggestions as to how we can be more environmentally conscious please let us know!
SUPPORTING BIODIVERSITY
We are delighted to be a supporter of All Ireland Pollinator Plan 2021 – 2025.
Biodiversity and Pollinator Friendly Actions, led by our gardening team include:
- We are committed to carrying out long term, proactive measures to help protect and sustain environment, our new Woodland Suite development will have exceptional eco-credentials.
- With an eco-friendly approach we strive to achieve a balance between the nature and a working hotel garden
- We create shelter and safety for pollinators with a bee friendly mowing policy, respecting bees and bumblebee hives. We plant pollinator friendly plants such as Catmint and Stachys within the rockery, hellebores in shady spots and ongoing planting of perennials such as autumnal Asters and Rudbeckias and bee friendly spring bulbs such as Crocus, Alliums and Bluebells
- The Woodland trees include Birch, Lime, Oak & Sycamore and as part of our new Woodland Suite development additional Holly, Sycamore and Birch will be sown. The development will enhance the ground level flora and woodland diversity so that the landscape changes improve the conditions for fauna variety and their migration.
- We communicate our efforts in biodiversity in the guest newsletters and on social media channels.
All-Ireland Pollinator Plan aims to reverse these decline of Ireland’s pollinating bees and insects, making the island a place where pollinators can survive and thrive once again.
For more information visit: pollinators.ie
RECYCLING AND LINEN RE-USE
RECYCLING:
- We have dividers now located in your bedroom bin for paper items, glass, single use plastic bottles and other recyclable materials and the bathroom bin for general waste to make separation easy for our accommodation team
- Please note that we offer a battery recycling facility at our front desk should you wish to avail of this during your stay
- If you have any queries regarding our recycling programme, please do not hesitate to contact a member of our team
LINEN RE-USE:
- Hang up any towels in your guest bathroom that you wish to re-use – please leave towels you wish to be replaced in the bath/shower and these will be replaced when your room is serviced
- For you our guests to have a comfortable stay whilst being mindful of the environment your sheets will be changed on the third day of a long stay unless otherwise requested
SUSTAINABLE MEETINGS & EVENTS AT THE MONTENOTTE HOTEL
To make your meeting or event as sustainable as possible and in line with our Environmental Policy we are committed to the following:
- Our air-handling units are eco-friendly and only used when required to reduce electricity consumption.
- The lighting in our meeting rooms is produced by energy-efficient bulbs.
- Our main meeting room is bathed with sunlight which assist’s us in reducing the need for artificial light during the summer months.
- All paper and plastic products used during your meeting or event are recycled including menus, conference papers and sparkling water bottles.
- We now offer Montenotte Hotel still water in branded cartons.
- We ensure lights are turned off in our meeting rooms when they are not in use.
- We e-mail quotations and contracts instead of printing.
- We use local food suppliers with all our food sourced within Ireland to support the local economy and reduce our carbon footprint
- All glass beverage bottles are returned or recycled
- All food waste generated within the premises is disposed of as compostable waste