Environmental Issues

The Greenbank Hotel has taken significant steps to make the hotel as environmentally friendly as possible, as well as supporting a number of initiatives in the local community.  Here are a few highlights :

• 80% of our food is now sourced by our Head chef Sanjay Kumar from within a 30 mile radius of the hotel, including local oysters, sausages and salad leaves.
• The majority of light bulbs throughout the hotel have been replaced with LED lighting, which is both cost effective and carbon neutral.
• Three more low water usage shower heads are purchased and replaced each month, which saves considerably on water consumption in showers, and reduces wastage.
• £411.50 has been raised in 2009 for the Mothers Union soup kitchen, helping to feed hundreds of Aids victims in South Africa.
• £628 has been raised in 2009 for Surfers Against Sewage, a local drive to keep our beaches and seas clean.
• In March 2010 our Ready, Steady, Cook event raised £402 in aid of Falmouth and Penryn Foodbank.

Environmental Policy

As an important part of our being awarded the Green Tourism Gold Award, we have also developed an Environmental Policy :

We believe at The Greenbank Hotel it is important to care for our surroundings and community, while still providing great service for our customers.  We are undertaking the following actions in order to achieve this:

• To comply with legislative and approved codes of practice.
• To strive to reduce our usage of energy and water by monitoring minimization.
• To follow the: reduce, reuse and recycle principles for all waste.
• To support the local community by getting involved in local charities and events.
• To involve and encourage employees by raising awareness through training and regular updates from The Green Team.
• To buy local, fair-trade and environmentally friendly products where possible.
• To promote ‘areas of outstanding natural beauty’ and ‘car free days out’.

Our guest's involvement is important to us and we encourage guests to read our ‘Visitors Charter’ to see what they can do to be a greener visitor.  Click here for details.

Surfers Against Sewage

The Greenbank is operating an ‘opt out’ visitor-gifting scheme for Surfers against Sewage. This is a Charity based in Cornwall that campaigns for clean, safe recreational water for everyone. We automatically add 50p per room, on each guests stay which gets donated to go to this worthy organisation, who strive to keep Cornwall’s beaches clean for locals and visitors to enjoy.

If you do not wish to give this donation please ask the duty receptionist to take this off your final account. More details can be found on their website www.sas.org.uk.

However, to give something back to you we will deduct £1.00 from every guests bill who use public transport as a means to travel to the hotel instead of using their car, please inform the duty receptionist on arrival.

Local Charity Support

We are working closely with and supporting the following local organisations & charities:

SAS (Surfers Against Sewage) - The Greenbank is the only Hotel in Falmouth supporting this Cornish environmental campaign group.  SAS is a UK-based non profit-making organisation campaigning for clean, safe recreational waters, free from sewage effluents, toxic chemicals, marine litter and nuclear waste.  More details can be found on their website www.sas.org.uk

CWT (Cornwall Wildlife Trust) -  www.cornwallwildlifetrust.org.uk - fulfils a role occupied by no other countryside organisation.  They are concerned solely with Cornwall and involved in the many aspects of conserving Cornwall's wildlife and wild places.  As an official Corporate Member of CWT, the Greenbank Hotel is making a commitment to protect wildlife and therefore the environment in Cornwall.

Ramblers Organisation - www.ramblers.org.uk - The Greenbank Hotel is listed on the Rambler’s website as one of the  ‘Walker-Friendly Accommodation Providers’ and this Guest Guide lists all of the Walks in Cornwall, contact information and some timetables of organised walks in Falmouth and other local areas.

Penryn & Falmouth Foodbank - following the Ready Steady Cook event held at The Greenbank in March, we are now selling Sanjay’s recipe books here at the hotel for £3 each, with all proceeds going to the Penryn & Falmouth Foodbank.

We officially support the following local Sustainable Organisations :

SSW (Sustainability South West), Fair Shares Fair Choices, Shape a Better South West, Future Footprints, Future Foundations and CoaST.