“In an idle moment in 2001 we thought we should do more at Elder Grove the help preserve this beautiful are we grew up in. First of all we started by joining The lake District tourism and conservation partnership now of course Nurture Lakeland who suggested we went on a green awareness course this gave some great ideas that grew, we had 2 audits before moving on to the Cben scheme gaining bronze before writing our first Environmental management system and being awarded silver then gold.
Next we moved on to a pilot scheme run by GTBS after an advisory visit which pointed out areas we could improve came our first audit we were awarded Gold. A new criteria saw us drop down to silver. We then regained our gold and retained it at the most recent visit last year.
Having an outside agency coming In annually for us has been a benefit showing such as showing us new products, or giving us ideas how we can improve even more . Such as lighting not that long ago LED lighting was in its infancy and poor. Now the light from them is much better and we are now the replacing low energy bulbs with them. GTBS sent info on Electric vehicle charge points ours was installed soon after.
So perhaps having an EQM has helped our environmental performance be more sustainable much quicker than if we had been going alone.
Although networking has also been a great
help, it was at an event held by CGBF we
were introduced to pure lakes who now produce all of our bathroom products and
the green housekeeper for cleaning products.At nurture Lakeland Christmas
lunch we met the guys from Herdy who we bought Mugs from to
go in the guest
bedrooms.
Recently Twitter and especially #cumbriahour (Monday evenings between 7pm & 8pm) has helped
introduce me to many more like minded business we even managed to source new local whisky producer and a new local butter supplier via twitter.
I am always looking for a way we can improve to buy more local products and services..
...perhaps it’s just me that needs certifying?
this blog was previously published on the Nurture Lakeland website as a guest blogger
http://www.nurturelakeland.org/item/perhaps-it-s-just-me-that-needs-certifying.html
