Penzion Mirjam in Slovenia with proximity to nature and culture

Green Key awarded Penzion Mirjam is located in the idyllic village of Razdrto by the foothills of the Nanos mountain creating a natural starting point for hiking trips and visits to famous nearby caves.

Family owned Penzion Mirjam is placed in Razdrto at the crossroads of the route towards Ljubljana, Koper, Trieste, and Gorica, which can all be reached within half an hour drive. In the immediate vicinity of Razdrto, there are many natural and cultural sights of Slovenia, such as the Postojna Cave (13 km), the Škocjan Caves, the Vilenica Cave, Lipica, and Karst. The lovers of hiking will find Penzion Mirjam as amazing starting point in order to for instance ascend the Nanos mountain with views to the Venetian Bay, if weather permits.

Life in the middle of nature also requires a respectful and friendly attitude towards it. Penzion Mirjam, therefore, in 2018 carried out the energy rehabilitation of the building, and the establishment also strives for other reductions in the environmental impact, such as, for example, use of heat pump, use of water from own fountain, waste separation, composting, raising awareness of guests regarding nature protection, etc.

Penzion Mirjam says: “By acquiring the Green Key, we also received official confirmation that our work is good. Managing the company in a spirit of sustainable development offers both a better quality of life for the local population and a better experience of tourists.”

Penzion Mirjam has its own source of drinking water, an outdoor pool, a sauna, a snack bar, rooms with bathrooms and free WiFi access, and some rooms also include a kitchenette. For a limited number of guests they are offering also a camp site located in a natural setting, under the old trees of walnuts.

Radisson Blu Es. Hotel Rome wants to make a difference at the environmental level

The Radisson Blu Es. Hotel Rome, in Italy, is embracing sustainability and has obtained the Green Key award through its business management respecting the environment, including optimizing energy, joining international solidarity initiatives as well as soon making the hotel plastic free.

The work at Radisson Blu Es. Hotel Rome includes the appliance of a series of procedures aimed at reducing the waste and paying attention to the possible impacts deriving from air emissions.

A significant difference has been made in the energy management of the establishment. The energy use is reduced to a minimum thanks to the particular architectural structure of the hotel with large windows positioned around the entire hotel which favors the introduction of solar rays in all internal areas and throughout the day, the so-called daylighting phenomenon.

Strategic actions have also been added in the action plan of the establishment with the aim to lower the environmental footprint and cut the costs. This includes staff training and various awareness programmes to change the environmental behaviour in line with sustainable goals already set.

The international solidarity initiatives of Radisson Blu Es. Hotel Rome include support to the conservation and protection of water supply in Kenya.

Finally, the hotel management has announced its intention to minimise its environmental footprint by committing to eliminate the use of the plastic starting from the ban on disposable products and cocktail straws.

Two of Cardiff’s favourite cafés gain international environmental award

The Green Key programme in Wales goes from strength to strength as two of Cardiff’s favourite foodie hotspots are recognised for operating is a sustainable way.

Penylan Pantry and the Secret Garden café have been recognised for their sustainability efforts and have become the latest businesses in Wales to achieve the Green Key award.

Penylan Pantry is at the heart of the community in Penylan and so much more than an average café. They are also a corner shop and deli that promotes local producers, the community and the environment. They are passionate about the wonderful produce available in Wales and are proud to support their local producers, bakers, makers, farmers and dairies.

The team at the Pantry are also responsible for another of Cardiff’s iconic cafés. Last year they took on a lease to run the Secret Garden Café in Bute Park’s walled garden as well. They operate this establishment in the same responsible way.

Owner Mellissa Boothman says:

As a business owner and employer, it’s my responsibility to run my business as sustainabily as I can for the future of our planet, and the next generation. Receiving a Green Key award is a huge achievement for us all at the Pantry, and we are super super pleased. This award is an acknowledgement that sustainability is at the heart of Penylan Pantry, and to be recognised as a sustainable business means a lot to us. 

She adds:

The future of our natural world is in our hands, sustainable practice needs to become the norm. Businesses can play a vital part in this, they are perfect for setting a good example, leading the way in sustainability, inspiring, sharing ideas and promoting sustainable tips on social media platforms, with customers, and in advertisement 

Businesses throughout the sector in Wales are eligible to apply for Green Key. This includes bed and breakfasts, hotels, self-catering accommodation, camp sites, conference centres, restaurants and attractions.

Nick Ashby, Green Key Coordinator at Keep Wales Tidy says:

We’d like to congratulate Penylan Pantry and the Secret Garden Cafe on their success. We’ve seen mounting concern about the damage that’s being caused to our natural environment, so it’s important to recognise and celebrate Welsh businesses that are taking the lead on sustainability.

An important part of Green Key is education of both customers and staff and it’s great to see the Pantry staff taking this to heart by organising trips to help improve their knowledge of green issues, they recently visited a local recycling centre to better understand how their waste is handled and what they can do to prevent waste going to landfill.

 For more information, visit the Green Key website www.greenkey.cymru.

Historic small establishment at Lake Bled in Slovenia awarded with the Green Key

Vila Mila is the first accommodation by the famous Lake Bled to receive Green Key for its sustainability actions.

Vila Mila is a completely renovated villa in one of the oldest parts of Bled, Grad – positioned right under Bled Castle. Vila Mila is a house with a rich history. The first information about it can be found already in Franciscan land register from 1827, which noted a household name Kaischouz.  During the 20th century, the house was known under the name Kajževina, owned by family Čop that kept the ownership of the house until 1980 when they moved out of Bled and sold the house to the group of Slovenian companies that started to use the house as a holiday home for their employees. After some ownership rotations, the building was in 2007 bought by a family from Bled that had long-term plans with renovating the property and bringing back the dominant look and position to the mighty building as it once had.

After a long coordination of plans, all licenses for the complete renovation were ready at the end of 2011. Construction works began in summer of 2013 and at the beginning of 2015 villa was ready to accept first guests. By renaming the villa after the youngest family member, Mila, the family added a personal note to the house and started a new chapter in villa's history.

Believing that only sustainable tourism has a positive impact on the small town of Bled, the lake and the local community, the directions towards environmentally friendly construction solutions and the use of environmentally friendly products was a natural way of positioning Vila Mila as an accommodation wishing to attract guests with high ecological standards. Being the first one small accommodation in Bled with the Green Key certificate, Vila Mila strongly supports the town of Bled in its efforts towards a zero waste society and truly green destination.  

Vila Mila has a touch of the past and at the same time cutting-edge technology for a comfortable stay of guests in seven 1-bedroom apartments, with a beautiful garden and a view of the St. Martin's church and the Lake of Bled.

Radisson Hotel Group launches new meetings and events offering

Green Key’s hotel chain partner Radisson Hotel Group is proud to launch Radisson Meetings™, its new global meetings and events offering. Available across the group’s seven hotel brands, Radisson Meetings is developed around the three core elements of successful events – Personal, Professional and Memorable – while being 100% carbon neutral through offsetting.

Meetings and events play an important part in Radisson Hotel Group’s ambitious five-year plan. The launch of Radisson Meetings represents an important milestone in reaching its goal of becoming the market leader in this segment and customers’ first choice for their meetings and events. 

Eric De Neef, Executive Vice President & Global Chief Commercial Officer, Radisson Hotel Group, said: 

“Radisson Meetings represents our commitment to deliver a personal, professional and memorable service to our guests, and to respond to changing market trends and expectations. We are investing in our meeting venues at our 1,100+ hotels worldwide, in training of our teams, and in technology. A state-of-the-art IT infrastructure and distribution platform are core elements helping us to deliver our brand promise. Finally, all Radisson Meetings are carbon neutral – we are the only hotel group worldwide to automatically offset any carbon footprint at no cost to our customers.”

THE FOUNDATIONS 

Placing customer needs at the heart of its offer, Radisson Meetings is built on three core pillars: personal, professional and memorable.

Radisson Meetings makes every meeting personal through its team of meetings and events professionals, who are trained to take a solution-focused approach and to design solutions around each client’s individual requirements. Excellent customer service is one of the factors that matters most to event planners when selecting a venue. That is why Radisson Meetings promises a dedicated point of contact throughout the planning process who will provide support and recommendations, as well as on-site on-demand support at the touch of a button during the event.

Radisson Hotel Group is committed to making a multi-million investment across its portfolio in new audio-visual technology and improved facilities. This investment will help the group deliver on its promise to provide a professional and consistent quality service across its entire portfolio. Implementation has already been completed in 55 properties across 11 countries in EMEA and will be progressively rolled out globally across the group's portfolio by the end of the five-year operating plan in 2021.

To help event planners deliver memorable events for their attendees, Radisson Meetings provides an impressive portfolio of venues, tempting menus and other extras that will surprise and delight. 

With the launch of Radisson Meetings, Radisson Hotel Group automatically offsets the carbon footprint of every meeting or event taking place at their hotels worldwide, at no cost to attendees or organizers. To do this, Radisson Hotel Group has teamed up with FirstClimate, one of the largest carbon offsetting organizations in the world. 

For each meeting, the carbon footprint is calculated and then offset through First Climate by supporting projects that combat climate change and have a positive sustainable development contribution in Peru, Kenya, and India or invest in wind energy in Turkey and the USA. All selected projects are Gold Standard or Verified Carbon Standard certified. Furthermore, Radisson Meetings focus on ongoing efforts to minimize food waste and eliminate single-use plastics. 

Radisson Rewards for Business, the group’s loyalty program for event planners, is also an important component of the Radisson Meetings concept. Members can earn valuable points toward rewards for all bookings at all Radisson Hotel Group brands.

For more information, please visit: 

https://www.radissonmeetings.com

Weathering the storm with renewable energy

When the Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico in 2017, the bed-and-breakfast Casa Sol with its solar panels on the roof became a centre of support for the whole neighbourhood.

© Marie Fazio: Ramirez with his solar panels on the roof of Casa Sol.

Eddie Ramirez hasn’t forgotten the reaction when he installed solar panels on the roof of Casa Sol, his butterscotch-coloured bed-and-breakfast nestled on a cobblestone street just two blocks from Castillo San Cristóbal, the largest Spanish fort in the New World.

While Ramirez planned, his neighbours laughed.

“People said, ‘Why are you spending all this money, do you really need it?’” recounted Ramirez, who’s 56 years old and has owned Casa Sol for six years. But thanks to those solar panels, Casa Sol regained power just about 24 hours after Hurricane Maria struck. For months, Casa Sol was one of the few buildings in the neighbourhood with regular electricity. 

“When the storm hit they said, ‘Wow,’” Ramirez recalled of his neighbours. “We didn’t really install it because we thought something like this would happen, we just thought we have to put in our little contribution in order to protect the environment.” 

Ramirez was at the forefront of a push toward renewable energy that has swept over the island since Maria’s passage. Before the storm, roughly 2.5 percent of Puerto Rico’s electricity was drawn from renewable energy sources. Today, that figure is about 4 percent, with some neighbourhoods and towns — weary of unpredictable and enduring power outages — forming their own small-scale power grids.

Even though he was preaching the gospel of solar energy in the face of doubters, Ramirez was far from smug about his foresight or selfish with his good fortune. In the months after the storm, he left the doors of Casa Sol open for anyone who might need draw a bit of energy from the batteries that stored the power his solar panels collected.

Some came to charge appliances and cell phones or do laundry. Families stored breast milk and life-saving medications in his refrigerators. One man powered his sleep apnea machine at night. During one particular stretch, he recalled, as many 100 people a day would visit.

“Casa Sol came to be a centre of support during or after the storm for all our community and our neighbours,” Ramirez said.

Support, and also, it seems, inspiration. Today, more than a few of Ramirez’s neighbours also have solar panels.

Original article by Marie Fazio for Notre Dame Journalism

International auditing company supports Green Key with on-site audits

Control Union and Green Key have formalised a cooperation with the aim of having Control Union conducting Green Key on-site audits.

Control Union is an international auditing company founded in the Netherlands in 2002, but today Control Union has national offices in 70 countries around the world. The company has a long track record of conducting audits in many areas of operation, including sustainability audits within the hospitality industry. 

Johan Maris, Director at Control Union, says: “We are happy to be able to extend our large portfolio of services to include Green Key onsite audits, and with the Control Union offices in many countries around the world, we are often able to identify a local auditor to reduce travel costs and carbon emission.”

Through the agreement, Control Union is offering its service of being able to conduct Green Key onsite audits at applicant establishments located in countries without a Green Key National Operator.

Finn Bolding Thomsen, International Director at Green Key adds: “We are experiencing a growing interest in Green Key from establishments all over the world, and with our strict system of having regular onsite audits we will need additional third-party auditors, so Control Union with its large network of national offices fit well to our needs.”  

Carmarthenshire glamping site gains international eco award

Larkhill Tipis & Yurts have been recognised for their sustainability efforts and have become the latest businesses in Wales to achieve the Green Key award.

“Glamping” is created from the words “glamorous” and “camping” and describes a style of camping with amenities and, in some cases, resort-style services not usually associated with traditional camping. Glamping has become particularly popular with 21st-century tourists seeking the luxuries of hotel accommodation alongside with the adventure recreation of camping.

The site was established in 2003 as one of the first glamping sites in the UK. Tucked away on the edge of a 20-acre smallholding and woodland in West Wales, Larkhill Tipis & Yurts offers a complete escape from the hustle and bustle of everyday life. This family run site prides itself on providing an eco-friendly holiday with a focus on their guests enjoying the nature and wildlife that surrounds it. The site is off grid and all the electricity is generated by harnessing wind, solar and water power.

Owner Fran Wintle says:

We are delighted to be awarded Green Key certification. As a business we have been self-sufficient in power since we started in 2003 and have always worked with an eco-ethos, recognising that ecological sustainability is essential for the following generations and for the health and vitality of our planet. With Green Key Certification we are clearly able to demonstrate to our visitors the importance that we place on ethical and green matters. By joining Green Key we aim to develop our mission to not only achieve as many green targets as we can as a business, but to inspire our guests to make better decisions, choose ethical and green products for their own homes and consider power and water consumption in their own lives

Nick Ashby, Green Key Coordinator at Keep Wales Tidy says:

We’d like to congratulate Larkhill Tipis & Yurts on their success. We’ve seen mounting concern recently about the damage that’s being caused to our natural environment, so it’s important to recognise and celebrate Welsh businesses that are taking the lead on sustainability.  Larkhill Tipis & Yurts have put caring for the environment at the heart of their lives and business for the last 15 years. As well as producing their own electricity they are passionate about recycling, they compost all food waste and use it to grow their own vegatables. Guests can also enjoy honey and eggs produced on the site.

For further information about the Green Key awarded establishment, go to https://www.larkhilltipisandyurts.co.uk/eco/.

Calculate the benefits of switching to green cleaning products

As climate, energy, and plastics problems are being discussed across the globe, it is getting more important to point out existing solutions of environmental pioneers. The PERFORMANCE CALCULATOR of our partner green care PROFESSIONAL is a tool that shows the exact savings on crude oil, plastics and CO2 when products from the green care PROFESSIONAL line are used.

The green care PERFORMANCE CALCULATOR ascertains the crude oil savings from the packaging weight, product ingredients and the share of recyclates contained in the packaging and converts them into CO2 equivalents. The customer obtains a summary of a measurable, certified value and meaningful evidence of the actual efficiency of green products. The calculator is available free of charge at get.wmprof.com.

After a period of use of green care PROFESSIONAL products, the real savings can be certified and added to any CSR report or used in marketing of a tourism establishments. Many products of the green care PROFESSIONAL range trust on the EU Ecolabel certification and the additional circular label of the Cradle-to-Cradle® Institute.

Even if an establishment doesn’t plan to replace its cleaning products with green care PROFESSIONAL products, the calculator is a useful tool to estimate the environmental footprint of its conventional cleaning products.

The calculation was validated by environmental auditors and acknowledged as one the first footprint calculation tool for recycled plastics:

Nominations include the Amsterdam Innovation Award at the INTERCLEAN exhibition and best practice example at the Circular Economy meeting in October 2018 run by the French government. Most recently it received the silver prize for innovative solutions in cleaning services at the Europrope cleaning fair in Paris.

The manufacturer behind the brand is the Werner & Mertz Group and well known across Europe for its pioneering cleaning eco-brands like “Frosch”, “Rainett” aside green care PROFESSIONAL.

It also received many packaging prizes for its first-time developments of 100% recycled plastic materials and is one of the highlighted partners within the Ellen MacArthur foundation looking to preserve the oceans.