Environmental and Social Responsibility
Environmental Issues
At The Walnut Tree Hotel, we are committed to implementing a range of environmental measures to help sustain and protect our environment. We are proud to have been awarded a Silver Green Business Tourism accreditation.
We recognise the impact our hotel could have on the environment and that through green initiatives and working together as a team, we can contribute to making a cleaner and safer environment.
The Walnut Tree Hotel continues to review and change all aspects of the business, to improve our product, consider our local community needs, employees and neighbours, and reduce our carbon footprint.
Actions Taken
- We provide venues to many local associations at a privileged rate, including Inner Wheel, ASA, Community Partnership, Catenians and the North Petherton Carnival Committee. We support our local Carnival Club “Pentathlon” by providing a meeting point on a monthly basis
- We liase closely with the local community and help by being key holders for the Community Centre, as well as regularly donating prizes to local charities and organisations
- We encourage the use of public transport by providing bus and train times to help reduce our carbon footprint, as well as encourage our staff to car share whenever possible
- We employ many local people from the North Petherton and Bridgwater area – in fact all our breakfast staff, many of our housekeeping department and waiting on staff live in the village
- Wherever possible, we source and use local produce in the restaurant and bar. All our meat comes from the local butcher and is sometimes even delivered on foot
- We recycle our glass waste through Wills Carnival Club
- We recycle all paper, bottles, cardboard and plastics
- Any stamps on incoming mail are sent to charity
- We recycle any printer and fax cartridges to charity
- We have installed two ‘state of the art’ gas boiler systems, for hot water and heating to reduce carbon emissions and fuel usage. We also switch off heating if any part of the hotel is not in use
- We switch off electrical equipment when not in use rather than leave on stand by
- All our laundry is done on site by our Housekeeping Team, thereby eliminating the need for transportation
- We have actively introduced energy saving LED lights throughout the hotel to help reduce our energy usage
- Heating is turned down in guest rooms by housekeeping, to be increased by the guest if they require it
- We have light fittings, which are movement and light sensitive installed in various parts of the hotel. These work in conjunction with time switches to minimise electric usage
- We have water butts fitted to reduce our water usage
- We have bags in toilet cisterns to reduce the use of water
- Plants from our hanging baskets are recycled by planting in the garden areas
- All pipes are lagged to prevent heat loss
- We have nesting boxes at various points around the hotel to encourage the diversity and well being of our local birds
Ongoing commitment
- We have a programme in place, in association with Bridgwater College, to put staff members through NVQ’s in relevant areas
- We will continue to reinforce the need for prudence in energy usage whilst looking for ways to improve it, reminding staff that any non-essential equipment should be switched off
- Although we have most areas of the hotel double glazed already, wherever refurbishment takes place double-glazing will be fitted
- When possible we will renew equipment giving weight to environmental factors such as energy consumption, ecological factors of production, site of production and product life
- We will continue to review where movement and/or time and/or light sensitive switches can be fitted to reduce our energy demands
- We will continue to employ as many staff as possible from the local area
- We undertake to source suppliers who operate with high CSR standards
- We will keep abreast of technological advances to ensure we remain as environmentally friendly as possible without jeopardising our customer service