The Celtic Manor Resort has achieved a Gold Award in recognition of a concerted drive to improve its environmental performance and reduce its carbon footprint.
The resort achieved an 83 per cent rating in its latest assessment from Green Tourism, progressing from Silver to the prestigious Gold Level.
The report from Green Tourism praised several positive changes made since its previous audit, improvements which have resulted in energy savings as well as giving a greener experience to guests.
Green Tourism lead assessor Stuart Park said: “The bigger changes have included the introduction of CHP (Combined Heat and Power) for the main hotel, as well as further installation of LED lamps and low flow showerheads.
“Staff awareness and training seems particularly strong and evidenced on the site visit while the site has been very active in supporting many local and national good causes and charities. Effort has been made to reduce travel impacts with electric cars on-site and car charging points for electric vehicles.”
The report also highlighted the resort’s commitment to sustainability, vastly increased rates of recycling, communication of green policy to guests, energy and waste monitoring, and the range of healthy activities available for guests to participate in.
Celtic Manor’s Energy and Environmental Manager Joel Kirby has led the initiatives which have resulted in the Gold Award since his appointment in September 2016.
He said: “We are delighted that all our hard work to improve our environmental performance has been recognised by the officials at Green Tourism with this Gold Award.
“We know that environmental issues are becoming increasingly important to our guests and it is essential we do everything we can to address these concerns and reduce our carbon footprint. Making efficiencies in electricity and gas consumption also saves us money as a business at a time of increasing energy costs so it’s a win-win process.
“As well as getting some great feedback from guests, it has been really rewarding for me to see how enthusiastically all the staff at Celtic Manor have embraced our new initiatives and thrown themselves into recycling and saving energy with real commitment.
“The most pleasing improvements for me over the last year have been the 21% increase in our recycling rates, and the reduction of our CO2 emissions by 381 tons so far this year, the equivalent of taking 64 cars off the road for an entire year.”
The Celtic Manor Resort will take recommendations from the Green Tourism report to further improve its environmental practices and continue to reduce its carbon footprint.
The five-star venue in South Wales received further recognition for its environmental progress last month when it was awarded Green Dragon Level 3 status from Groundwork Wales.
Green Tourism http://www.green-tourism.com/
Celtic Manor Resort www.celtic-manor.com