Clean and green
- Details
- Published Date
As the new General Manager of Qualmark New Zealand, I'm increasingly impressed with the efforts
companies make to embrace Qualmark's Enviro Awards and the Responsible Tourism criteria that defines them. Minimising the impact their businesses have on the environment by monitoring and improving energy efficiency, waste management and water conservation and contributing to local environmental activities and conservation initiatives.
We have over 2300 Qualmark Licence Holders and they're all required to show some level of environmental responsibility, but only the best of the best achieve Enviro 'Gold' status.
Three 'Gold' recipients that have caught my eye recently form Queenstown's Millennium Hotels and Resorts (The Copthorne Hotel & Resort, Lakefront; The Millennium Hotel and The Copthorne Hotel & Apartments Lakeview) a global hotel company with a team of local staff who are committed to supporting Qualmark's green scheme.
The list of initiatives they've implemented is long and it's ever increasing. It ranges from small improvements such as using biodegradable rubbish bags in guest's rooms and switching to energy saving light bulbs (over 2500 bulbs), to the establishment of a large and healthy 14 bin 'worm' farm, fed by the Hotels' food scraps. And the recycling continues with the nutrient rich 'vermacast' the worms produce in turn feeding the herb and vege gardens of the hotels.
The knowledge and experience staff have gained is also helping to grow the next generation, by encouraging the students at Queenstown Primary School to develop their own enviro project and donating a portable worm farm.
As well as using Qualmark's Enviro Awards as a conservation template, the Millennium Hotels and Resorts have also joined the Queenstown Sustainable Business Programme, earning acknowledgement in newspaper reports and winning a Queenstown Lakes District Council Enviro Waste Award. Most importantly though, their environmentally responsible aspirations have impressed hotel guests and in some cases won them business they might not otherwise have had.
But having attained Enviro 'Gold' doesn't mean the hard work is over. The Queenstown Millennium Hotels and Resorts assure us they'll continue their great efforts and are keen to adopt new responsible tourism ideas. Their belief is that visitors to New Zealand have high expectations that our country is 'clean and green' and we must therefore offer tourism experiences to match.
It's great to see Queenstown's Millennium Hotels and Resorts working so hard to attain and retain its three Qualmark Enviro 'Gold' Awards ... and that the Enviro awards are also working hard for them.
