We’re sure you’re aware that protecting our environment is a ‘hot’ topic at the moment and here at the Golden Jubilee Conference Hotel we are seriously upping our game to ensure all our staff, guests, delegates and visitors are contributing to our green agenda.
As a large, public organisation, having environmentally friendly policies is a priority and being green is not a fashion fad for us, it’s part of our way of life so let us take you through the long list of measures we are embracing and why.
As committed members of Visit Scotland’s Green Tourism Business and the IACC GreenStar schemes, we want to safeguard our local environment for future generations – this site was here before us and will be here after we pass through, so we feel it is our humble duty to nurture and care for it as best we can.
One of the big things we’re really excited about right now is our own 10-point plan which helps us drive our environmental commitments even further, whilst creating a sustainable meeting place through the concept of designing experiences and not just organising meetings.
The 10 points are:
- Paper: removal of flipchart paper from conference rooms – replacing with glass squiggle boards
- Plastic: removal of single use plastics
- Water: removal of single use glass water bottles
- Food: more balanced provincial market menu
- Allergens: creating an industry-standard menu labelling system
- Hydration: introduction of hydration stations around the hotel
- Mindfulness: catering for mindful aspects of conference
- Outdoor meetings: outdoor destination area for walk and talk conferences
- Linen: removal of single use napkins
- Training: investing in our people to achieve the 10-point plan
We take all of these elements into account, not just for conferences but throughout our whole business. We now have a wide range of eco-friendly measures, which have been introduced in partnership with, and actively involve our staff, visiting delegates and guests in our green agenda.
We source local produce for our menus, monitor our energy consumption and have birdboxes for the local wildlife outside – it’s not uncommon for our staff and guests to see a family of deer grazing on the greenery outside our windows and witness nature at its most beautiful up close.
We also use suppliers which maintain ethical practices for equipment, energy and chemicals, have many tools in place to save as much energy as possible such as low energy lighting, centrally controlled air conditioning and have a high efficiency boiler.
As part of our Sustainable Purchasing Policy we want our suppliers to have the same commitments as we do. We ask for evidence of and discuss their methods of transport and packaging, calculate running costs of products and consider the recyclability of any product we purchase – if it can’t be recycled, we’ll go for one that can.
This is all part of our massive, evolving sustainability business model. If you’d like to know more about our green credentials, visit the Sustainability pages: https://goldenjubileehotel.com/about-us/social-responsibility
The Golden Jubilee Conference Hotel has signed a pledge to be part of the #20PercentLess campaign. The hotel aims to lower single-use plastic by at least 20 per cent over the next five years in support of the national green initiative to lower the Hotel’s carbon footprint. The pledge is led by the Meetings Industry Association and the hotel has joined other Venue of Excellence members in supporting it.
The Golden Jubilee Conference Hotel, which also holds the Green Tourism Gold Accreditation for its commitment to sustainability, recently hosted ocean advocate Cal Major on a film tour of her renowned eco work. Hotel Director Bronagh Bell took the opportunity to talk about Cal’s World Record-breaking achievements in stand-up paddleboarding and sought advice for other ways in which the Hotel can better protect the environment. Bronagh said:
“At the Golden Jubilee Conference Hotel, we know that plastic pollution is a global problem with terrible far-reaching consequences. That’s why we have committed to reducing single-use plastic on our site. We have recently signed a pledge to be part of the 20PercentLess campaign. We aim to lower our plastic use by twenty per cent year on year over the next five years.”
Record-breaker Ms Major was staying in the hotel while touring for her film ‘Vitamin Sea’, which shows her become the first and fastest person to stand-up paddleboard the length of mainland UK. The record-breaking journey along 1000 miles of coastline shows some of the positive things coastal communities are doing to tackle plastic pollution. Founded in 2016, Paddle Against Plastic is an organisation set up to spread the word about plastic pollution. Using her adventures to capture peoples’ imagination, Cal highlights the amount of plastic in the ocean and promotes positive change by offering simple solutions. Talking about the hotel’s efforts to reduce their use of single-use plastic, Ms Major said:
“I support the Golden Jubilee in its positive efforts in helping tourism become more eco-friendly. Signing up to initiatives like the 20percentless campaign shows how important it is that we all try and do our bit to end plastic pollution. We need to reconnect and look after our local nature. It’s easy to say that to someone who lives by the sea because they can go to the coastline and spend time there and see the problems but even in Glasgow you can see the effect plastic pollution has on the Clyde”.
Bronagh Bell added: “Having the hotel on the banks of the Clyde brings home the impact of plastic on marine life. As such, we’ve made a decision aimed at reducing single-use plastics in the hotel which underscores how important we believe it is to continuously find ways to reduce our environmental impact. It’s a huge priority for us because we feel a huge social responsibility to our local area, our customers and our staff.
“Our guests are looking to us to make changes that will create a meaningful difference for the environment while not sacrificing the quality service and experience they expect from our hotel. We are taking forward a number of initiatives including supporting our guests and delegates to use less plastic. The Golden Jubilee Conference Hotel is committed to ensuring that the environment is safeguarded for future generations. We are continually improving our performance through our active environmental policy.”