ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY

Throughout the hotel each week have a “Green/Sustainability” training topic for all departments We are also committed to the following sustainable activities:

• To monitor and record our environmental impacts on a regular basis and compare our performance with our policies, objectives, and targets
• The hotel will soon have an electric vehicle charging point onsite by the end of 2021
• Our customers and guests will be made aware of our initiatives, and we will encourage them to help us achieve our environmental goals.
• We also work with CleantheWorld.org on sustainable bathroom initiatives.
• The hotel occupies a 6-acre site with our own herb garden, wildflower meadow, wooded areas and sunken Victorian Garden.
• We are a business supporter of All Ireland Pollination Plan 2021 – 2025
• We gift our guests on departure with a packet of Wildflower Seeds to bring home and plant. A small gift from our garden to theirs.
• An Eco Taxi can be ordered with the reception team at the hotel for our guests with Free Now our Taxi provider giving you a greener way to get around Cork city. This Eco Fleet of cars in Cork forms part of Free Now’s sustainability strategy to achieve 100% zero emissions by 2030.
• We are members of the Cork Chamber’s Enterprise Europe Network and their Sustainable Cork yearlong 2021 Programme entitled ‘Circular Economy Training for SMEs’, which offers businesses the opportunity to engage with circular principles and receive tailored application-based guidance on how these can be adopted across business operations. We are on this programme with other companies from the following sectors: manufacturing, plastics and packaging, construction and the built environment, food, retail, electronics and textiles and fashion

For 2021, our KPI's and Green Pledges are as follows:

• We plan to secure a 5% reduction in Water Consumption at the hotel.
• We plan to secure a 6% increase in our Waste Diversion Rate at the hotel to nearly 1/3 of all waste
• Install an electric vehicle charging point onsite at the hotel by end of QTR 4 2021.
• We will become a Business supporter of All Ireland Pollinator Plan 2021 – 2025

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 for the future generations.
• With 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 have bee hotels in the garden providing shelter, and 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.
• We communicate our efforts in biodiversity in the guest newsletters and on social media channels.
• We are working on implementation of bee hives and development of our honey in 2022.
• Through the planting year, we gift our guests with a packet of Wildflower Seeds to bring home and plant. A small gift from our garden to theirs, 

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

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 bathe 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 water bottles.
•   We offer tap water instead of bottled water on request to reduce the use of single use plastic bottles
•   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
•   We have natural plants in all our meeting rooms to recycle the air you breath.