Environmental Policy Statement

Clareville House Kichen Garden runs a kitchen garden and is a food producer and is committed to delivering quality products /services. As a member of the Burren Ecotourism Network and a certified member of Ecotourism Ireland and Leave No Trace we are committed to the protection of health and environment and are determined to minimise any adverse impacts on our environment as a result of our activities.
The Burren Ecotourism Network (B.E.N.) is a network of tourism enterprises with the objective of establishing the Burren as a premier internationally-recognised sustainable tourism region ensuring the future economic and social growth and sustainable development of its communities, environment and heritage.

We are committed to reducing our impact on the environment. We strive to improve our environmental performance over time and to initiate additional projects and activities that further reduce our impacts on the environment. Our commitment to the environment extends to our customers, our staff, and the community in which we operate.

 

We are committed to:

Adopting the Burren and Cliffs of Moher GEOPARK Sustainable Code of Practice for Tourism;

Comply with all applicable environmental regulations;

Prevent pollution whenever possible;

Train all of our staff on our environmental program and empower them to contribute and participate;

Communicate our environmental commitment and efforts to our customers, staff, and our community;
and Continually improve over time by striving to measure our environmental impacts and by setting goals to reduce these impacts each year.

 

We are committed to addressing the following issues:

PROMOTE AWARENESS

We inform and motivate all our staff and encourage them to play an active role in our commitment to our environmental policy. This includes advice on water conservation, glasshouse management and waste prevention.

ENVIRONMENT & WASTE MANAGEMENT

We operate a reduce, reuse, recycle policy in relation to waste. Our main emphasis is on the reduction of waste and we reuse all organic materials. Anything we cannot dispose of organically we recycle. We will continue to promote, develop and implement waste prevention, reduction, reuse and recycling on-site in a systematic and cost effective manner.

ENVIRONMENT MANAGEMENT PLAN

We set specific improvement targets, monitor progress and communicate results internally. Our Water Conservation and Glasshouse Management Checklists are our target documents. Any specific improvement not in place at moment will be done. Our appliances comply with European Directive 89/109/EEC, DL 108 of 25.1.1992. and/or Directive 2010/30/EU of 31/07/2011.

ENERGY & WATER MANAGEMENT

We are always improving our building insulation and reducing water wastage. We have refurbished and manage our buildings in a manner that reduce the associated environmental impacts and be sympathetic with the external surroundings. By addressing the issue of energy efficiency in our buildings, we contribute to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions in line with national and international agreements. All appliances and fittings, bulbs etc meet energy efficiency standards.

GREEN PURCHASING

We use a ‘green’ purchasing policy to favour suppliers and contractors that adopt ‘best practice’ environmental practices and are local, where possible. Green Purchasing is the practice of procuring goods and services that cause less harm to the environment, and the living beings that depend upon it for survival. Green Products are those manufactured with more environmentally-friendly materials or which are produced with minimal impact to the environment. Sustainable development involves using the Earth's natural resources (i.e. both renewable and non-renewable resources) to fulfill our present needs without affecting the needs of next generations. "Green Purchasing" is an important element for us in achieving sustainable development. Consequently, when we consider buying something, we estimate the adverse environmental impacts associated with the product during its full life-cycle. If we cannot justify it on environmental terms we do not buy it. We find something else to do the job.

CONSERVATION & ADVOCACY

We will work closely with our suppliers and customers towards achieving our environmental policy aims. Additionally we provide community wide support for Conservation and Advocacy projects. We also provide adequate resources (books, maps, leaflets, website and conservation group details) for the community and our customers and specific information to our customers on the Burren Special Area of Conservation, explaining the principles of ‘Leave No Trace’ and the Geopark Sustainable Code of Practice for Tourism policies.