Staff of the hotel, in conjunction with their waste-minimisation company, have already recycled 200 tons of waste for the year, only six months into 2014. Group environmental manager and horticulturist, Chris van Zyl, put the savings into perspective: "Relatively speaking, 200 tons equates to the weight of 125 average-sized cars, 36 elephants or three Southern Right whales!"
"We have a very extensive recycling programme at the Vineyard Hotel and are constantly making efforts to reduce our waste to landfill by coming up with innovative ways of recycling and reusing materials," added Van Zyl.
"The Vineyard Hotel continues to put various 'Living Green' practices in operation: the installation of 80 solar panels, energy-saving lights in the conference centre, and the purchase of wind-driven energy certificates from the Darling Wind Farm, to name a few - which has enabled us to reduce our overall energy usage and to minimise the impact we have on the environment and our surrounding community.
"The impact of this reduction in energy usage is 288, 602 kilowatt hours - which is sufficient to power 250 average households in the Newlands area for an entire month."
The Vineyard Hotel has been on a drive for many years to adopt eco-friendly practices throughout its operations and in 2012 won Best Single Resource Management Programme - Waste Management at the Imvelo Awards, which honours tourism businesses that demonstrate sustained responsible practices in their natural, social and economic environments.
For more information on how the Vineyard Hotel maintains its low carbon footprint, go to www.vineyard.co.za/pages/enviromental_social.htm.
