Ever since we opened in 1993 we have made consistent efforts to minimise the negative effects we have on the environment and to maximise the positive effects. This has not been easy, especially as in the old days it was very difficult to find ways to recycle materials. Although we can recycle a lot more these days, there are many more things we can do, and we are continually looking at how we can reduce our “environmental footprint”. Recycling is only one aspect of reducing this “footprint”.
Materials
- We used locally grown Oak, Larch and Douglas Fir to build the Great Hall, this supports the local economy and encourages good management of our forests.
- Wherever possible we use locally grown timber for our fencing and construction projects.
- Recycled roofing slates are used on the main buildings.
- We use recycled slate from local quarries for all our hardcore and loose surfacing requirements.
- We try to keep our use of plastic to a minimum, but there is always scope for improvement in this area, and for some activities, such as our Great Green Run, there is no alternative to plastic.
- Virtually no tropical hardwoods have been used at GreenWood.
Recycling
- We recycle more and more, but economics and common sense have to play their part. Eg we were only able to recycle our cardboard once an Anglesey recycling company started a few years ago. Until then, we would have had to pay for a lorry to drive from the Midlands to pick up a couple of pallets of cardboard, and this did not make environmental or economic sense.
- Paper, printer cartridges, unclaimed lost property clothes, used cooking oil and used timber are all recycled. The plastic sledges we use on the Great Green Run are reused by a local company. We now have two recycling bins for customers to put their used plastic drinks bottles into. Used cooking oil from the kitchens is collected by a local company. They process this oil into a key ingredient for bio-diesel.
- Even waste food from the cafe gets recycled - a proportion of any vegetarian leftovers are fed to the peacocks you will see around the Park.
- All organic matter is composted including leaf debris, grass cuttings and rabbit manure!
- During the summer of 2007 we started using degradable bin bags in most bins across the park.
- Ice cream tubs. The best options in order of preference are reduce/re-use/recycle: We have found a company to recycle our ice cream tubs but ideally we would like to reuse them, so we would like any customers who think they can use 20 or more of them for gardening etc to contact us at the park. (I’m afraid it is not an option to reduce our ice cream tubs as our customers like ice cream too much!)
Water
We launched the Rainwater
Harvesting System for summer 2007.
This takes the rain that falls onto the
roof of our Great Hall and uses it to flush
our toilets, saving many litires a year
of high quality drinking water.
Our current water usage is approximately
10 litres per visitor per year.
Electricity
- Until 2004 we ran the whole site on the same size fuse that is found in a domestic home " ie a single 100 amp fuse. In 2005 we upgraded to 3 phase power which gave us a capacity of 300 amps. However, we only use about half of this at present.
- Our present annual use per visitor is about 0.75 kw. This is extraordinarily low and others in the tourist industry find it difficult to believe that our electricity usage is as low as this.
Fossil Fuels
- We use several petrol engined power tools. The company Landrover uses diesel and we are currently investigating the possibility of using bio-diesel in this vehicle.
- LPG is used in the kitchen for the griddles and fryers " at present there is no suitable alternative to gas.
Carbon fixation/loss
- We have planted over 5,000 trees on site since 1993. The land that was previously rough grazing for sheep is now mixed woodland that not only fixes carbon from the atmosphere but also improves soil fertility and porosity, provides habitats for wildlife and generally increases bio-diversity.
- On the other hand we have covered significant areas of badly drained rushes and grassland with slate to make car parking areas. This removes an (albeit unproductive) area of land from the carbon cycle.
- If we have to cut a tree for any reason we utilize most of it: top for denbuilding, middle for log sawing and base for fire wood. Most of these trees are birch that will re-coppice (grow again).
Bio-diversity
Wildlife surveys indicate that we have a large number of different birds using the site, and many invertebrates. The range of natural flora is increasing due to positive site management that includes tree planting, coppicing, bramble control, pond construction and habitat creation. Coed Cymru have put up a number of bird and bat boxes that are well used, and the North Wales Wildlife Trust has carried out surveys.
Of the larger mammals, we have found Polecats, Brown Hares, Badgers (or at least their setts) and, of course, Rabbit holes. We also have grass snakes, slow worms, many newts and toads, dragon flies and damsel flies, to name but a few of our reptilian, amphibious and insect fauna.
Catering and Gifts
- We are working to introduce a percentage of our sandwiches with bio degradable packaging. In the cafe, we are using salt, pepper, vinegar and Tomato sauce in refillable containers and doing away with the little plastic sachets. In the snack bars we will use pump dispense Tomato sauce and mustard, to reduce the number of plastic sachets. Even the cartons for the Jacket Potatoes are bio degradable.
- We have introduced more "green" and recycled ranges into our gift shops; from recycled glass to crocheted plastic bags! We already source some items locally, including wooden craft gifts from a local wood turner and honey produced on Anglesey. Even our paper bags - now paper rather than plastic - come with a GreenWood picture that can be coloured in with crayons - a bag and a colouring sheet in one!
Green Dragon is a manageable way of achieving a recognised Environmental Management System (EMS).
It is a documented way of proving that you are protecting the environment.
Environmentally aware businesses and organisations are awarded different levels according to their policies and GreenWood has acheived Level 2 for 2008.
