Caring for the Environment

The Carlton Atlantic Coast Hotel Westport has been managing its environmental performance for a number of years which shows in its environmental performance indicators for 2006 of 342kWH/m2/pa which is well below the Irish Benchmark of 521kWh. This has been achieved by on-site management control, the switching off of machinery that was deemed unnecessary and by the implementation of an Environmental Management system monitored by our green team. This has culminated in achieving the Gold Green Hospitality award in 2008.

The Green Team for this Westport hotel

• Leader - Garrett McGuinness ( General Manager )
• Champion - Arnt Wunderlich ( Maintenance Manager )
• Facility Manager - Ann Walsh ( Accommodation Manager )
• Health & Safety - Anthony Holland ( Head Chef )

Our Hotel has an Environmental Policy that is displayed at reception in the hotel and we have specific targets and objectives to reach before the end of this year.

Environmental Management Policy
"We recognise that our business has an important role to play in protecting and enhancing the environment for future generations, And to help secure the long-term sustainablity of the Tourism Industry"

Environmental Objectives

• Energy - to reduce our consumption by 10% in 2008 and reduce our carbon emissions by 30 Tones
• Water - to decrease our consumption of mains Water by 20%
• Waste - to reduce the waste we send to landfill by 2.5 Tones
• Green Purchasing - to make sure that 85% of all light bulbs are long life bulbs
• To continue purchasing locally sourced foodstuff
• To support the Quay School in their Environmental activities
• To continue working with the resource center in Castlebar in our joint recycling programs creating employment
• Community Social Responsibility
• To continue in the local Quay clean up in conjuction with the Tidy Towns Committee
• To communicate quarterly our performance and achievements through our Carlton newsletter

Our Water Management
The Hotel has one of the lowest consumptions of water in an Irish Hotel - 282 liters/sleeper, against an Irish Benchmark of 400.Management are always aware that water consumption includes energy when heating and hot water are involved and that good water management. We are the first Irish Hotel to be retro fit to harvest rain water. Quay School question- what is the length of our swimming pool?

Our Waste Management
The Hotel has a very extensive waste management policy. More action is being taken internally to ensure that the required standards are being implemented by all staff. At induction stage all staff training is focused on our environmental policy and the departments recycling program.

Our Energy Management
Last year we used 829,392kWh causing 356 COz emissions, this year our consumption is down by 12% and we are using green electricity generated by wind farms that have no Carbon emissions. In February this year we reduced our Carbon emissions by 24,183kg that is the equivilant of taking 5 cars off the road for one year, quite an achievement in 1 month alone.