Meadowlands Hotel Sustainability Policy
The Meadowlands Hotel is A hotel by Nature, a Home by Heart. Located in a stunning location, it is extremely important that we adopt policies to protect our landscapes and environment. Together, we are working towards a sustainable future for our hotel, its staff, and guests.
We have built strong environmental and sustainability measures into our hotel, however, are committed to constantly improving these measures as our business develops. In this regard, we support and adopt the UNWTO definition of Sustainable Tourism (see below).
UNWTO's Definition of Sustainability is “Tourism that takes full account of its current and future economic, social, and environmental impacts, addressing the needs of visitors, the industry, the environment, and host communities.”
At Meadowlands Hotel we aim to work together at one level for one vision.
We believe in establishing an above-and-beyond-always ethos which in turn forms our mission as follows:
• To stay true to our family values as we grow.
• To support our foundations with solid structures in a sustainable environment.
• To develop our philosophy of loving to live, living to learn.
• To continuously strive to improve environmental practices
Our vision is to become an extended family tree for people to grow, belong, and bloom ensuring a sustainable future for all.
To achieve our goals, we aim to highlight areas that require development through regular measurement and assessment. To do this we are committed to measuring our water, energy and waste on a monthly basis and identifying ways to reduce our consumption.
Local, Sourcing, and Fair-trading practices
When purchasing goods, we ensure that we are committed to sourcing responsibly and locally where possible, supporting Kerry and Irish producers which in turn reduces food miles. We are particularly focused on supporting small artisan producers, makers, and suppliers who contribute to the local community. We actively engage in fair trading practices with all of our suppliers, guests and employees and always seek to purchase or switch to products that have certification. We are committed to substituting imported products with quality Irish products. Reduce, reuse and recycle packaging. Buying in bulk to reduce transport and packaging when possible. Fresh fish is brought in daily from the owner’s fish company.
Waste
We aim to reduce our general waste by 20% and our Food Waste by 10% in 2023. We commit to weighing and monitoring waste weekly. To reduce our waste usage, we do the following:
- Miniature toiletry bottles have been replaced with larger luxury refillable dispensers.
- We use environmentally friendly guest amenities, cleaning, household, and garden products.
- The paper we use is PEFC certified and we have adopted a “think before you print policy”
- Drinking straws and cocktail stirrers are made of cardboard
- Plastic water bottles are now glass
- Cardboard packaging, glass, cans, used light bulbs, and batteries are all returned to suppliers or collected for recycling.
- We aim to reduce our landfill waste each year by continuing to reduce waste, eliminate single-use plastics & packaging, continue to recycle where possible and compost our green waste.
- Paper usage within the hotel is continually monitored in our efforts to reduce and reuse.
- Use wooded hangers in the guest rooms
- Suppliers are required to use reusable boxes for deliveries
- Reduce the number of menu options for tours to reduce waste and purchasing
- We aim to buy local when at all possible
- In the process of getting rid of brown bins and replaced with a composter to compost ALL food waste
- Cardboard is bailed and transported to the recycling depot
- We aim to buy in bulk when possible, to cut down on transport and packaging.
- Coffee Grounds kept for Maura’s Cottage Flowers for Gardening
Energy
- In 2023, we aim to decrease our Electricity and LPG consumption by 10%
- To reduce our electricity usage, we have:
- Changed our heating and hot water to a renewable energy provider- EnergieXpro. 84.22% of our energy will come from a renewable energy source.
- Old pipes and boilers have been replaced at the hotel with gas no longer used at the hotel.
- A Solar -PV system has been installed as a roof mount project with two heat pumps. It is expected to generate most of the energy required to operate the hotel.
- Continuously strive to further reduce our energy usage through the introduction of new efficiencies, controls, and process improvements.
- Added sensor controls for lights in store rooms, hallways, and toilets.
- Ordered electric car charging points for our guests to use
- The hotel is changing to LED lighting as replaced which saves many tonnes of CO2 energy per month
- Electricity in rooms lasts 3 minutes without key
- The salamander in the Kitchen has been changed from gas to electric and comes on with sensors from plates
- Sealed windows to prevent drafts in the room
We regularly (monthly) measure and review our consumption and aim to reduce consumption by 10% in 2023.
Water
We commit to measuring our water consumption every week with an aim to reduce our water usage by 10% in 2023. We have already implemented the following to reduce consumption:
- Encourage our guests to reuse towels to reduce washing
- Plastic Bottles in the Cisterns to reduce water per flush
- Changing to Waterless Urinals
- Use environmentally friend washing and cleaning products
- Adding Aerators to all taps in the hotel by the end of 2023
- Educate guests in pre-arrival emails on our sustainability measures and encourage them to take refillable water bottles
- Laundry uses eco-program in washer machines at 40 degrees
- Leaks spotted and fixed straight away
Carbon Management
We aim to reduce our carbon footprint and calculate a realistic carbon footprint for our business in 2023 and sign up for a carbon offset scheme. We are currently looking to find a partner to offset our remaining emissions. We aim at having found our partner by August 2023. By changing our energy supplier to EnergieXpro with solar installation and heat pumps, our carbon footprint will significantly reduce
Sustainable Marketing
We know that it is important to communicate our efforts in an honest way. We are aware of the risk of greenwashing, and we, therefore, commit to marketing the Hotel in an honest manner and communicating where we are on our journey and our improvements. We commit to ethical digital Marketing.
Activities
We advise guests on local amenities, craft shops, and nearby attractions while respecting local by-laws, landowners, and residents. We promote Tralee Bike Hire to travel the Greenways. We promote eco-adventure companies and activities.
Social Responsibility
We support locals and have respect for the community in which we are located and the impact of tourism on the people, heritage, and environment of the area. We are actively engaged and sponsor a number of local community and county clubs and initiatives. We are major sponsors for Kerry GAA, Kerry FC, Chain Gang Cycling Club, Meadowlands Golf, Irish Ladies Angling, and many underage sports teams. In addition, fundraising events are held annually for Kerry Hospice, Kerry Cancer Support, Lion’s Club, and Irish Guide Dogs. In addition, donations and prizes are offered for further fundraising initiatives. We are members of Sustainable Tourism Ireland, Leave No Trace, and other affiliations that are committed to sustainable travel practices. We are currently seeking to become members of Tidy Towns Tralee.
Supporting Biodiversity
We have signed up for the All-Ireland Pollinator Plan and aim to improve biodiversity at our hotel. To protect and conserve our local biodiversity we have initiated our own gardens with insect hotels and planting wildflowers and herbs. In May, we participated in the initiative “No Mow May”. We also plan to have bee hives on our hotel rooftop by 2024.
