Environmental Policy at Oaklands Edwardian Guest House
Oaklands
There are a number of ways in which we are trying to minimise our effect on the environment when we offer bed and breakfast at Oaklands. We hope that you will support us with our efforts.
We are members of the Green Tourism Business Scheme which helps promote green tourism in the UK.
Towels
You will notice that we have a towel policy where towels that are left on the rails will changed every four days and towels left on the floor will be changed daily.
Food
The quality of our breakafast is very importent to us. We are members of Direct From Dorset which means we endeavour to source as much local produce as possible. Our sausages and eggs come from Wyke Oliver Farm on the outskirts of Weymouth. Our bacon comes from Pampered Pigs at Bere Regis. The milk is delivered by Craig's Farm Dairy at Osmington. We try to obtain Dorset grown mushrooms whenever we can. Our butter portions come from Wyke Farms in Somerset.
Where food has to be sourced from further afield we try to ensure that we obtain Fairtrade goods such as the Hot Chocolate drink, sugar portions and coffee.
Energy
We have signed up to Ecotricity – a green energy supplier. Their policy is to invest in building new sources of green energy such as wind turbines. We are changing light bulbs to low energy bulbs as and when they need changing and we have a policy of switching off lights in public areas throughout the guest house overnight. All the radiators have thermostatic controls and guests are encouraged to reduce the temperature wherever possible. Guests are asked to ensure that televisions and other electrical items are not left on standby when not being used. Electrical items left on unnecessarily will be switched off when rooms are being serviced.
Recycling & Waste
We are hoping to obtain waste bins with separate compartments for waste. In the meantime we would ask guests to leave recyclable items to one side, such as paper, cans and plastic bottles. No food goes to landfill here. We are happy to take organic waste like banana skins and tea bags and put them with our compostable waste. Food scraps from breakfast are processed and fed to the birds or placed in our brown bin which is collected by the local authority.
We recycle a huge percentage of our waste and are working with Weymouth & Portland Borough Council to encourage them to collect a wider range of materials.
Eco-friendly Products
Wherever we can we buy environmentally friendly cleaning products. We are gradually updating our electrical goods to make sure we have energy efficient ones.
Water
Our water supply to the guest house is metered to help us monitor and control water use. Rainwater is collected for use in the garden.
The Future
Although we have only been here since 2007 we have put many measures in place to lower our carbon footprint and we have identified many other improvements which are to be carried out.
We have a green action plan to build on what we have achieved so far. We hope to install solar water heating and solar photovoltaics. We are examining the feasability of a wood fuel boiler and the latest condensing gas boilers as backup. Any redecoration will be undertaken using environmentally friendly products. We will upgrade bathrooms to incorporate the latest technology for showers and toilets.
