27.01.09 - Westport Success at Green Hospitality Awards
There was a touch of St Patrick's Day around Dublin recently as practitioners from the hospitality sector celebrated the ‘Greening’ of their industry at the National Green Hospitality Awards, in the Westin Hotel.
Mr. Michael Kitt, T.D., Minister of State at the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government presented the awards to hotels, guesthouses and caterers from all provinces.
Westport, Ireland's overall Tidytowns Winner from 2008, scooped another prestigious national award, being named as "Ireland's Greenest Destination" at the ceremony.
Minister Kitt also presented a number of category nominations designed to recognise particular achievements by individual members and groups. The Minister said “The experience of the Green Hospitality Award participants demonstrate that taking measures to reduce your environmental impact need not be seen as a burden or a threat to business, but can be viewed as an opportunity to reduce operating costs and increase competitiveness while contributing to the challenge of tackling climate change.”
The Green Hospitality Award programme, which currently has 180 members, provides a step-by-step approach to environmental management with awards given at Bronze, Silver, Gold or Platinum levels and has swiftly become the standard for environmental management within the hospitality sector in Ireland.
A total of 81 awards were presented nationally to businesses that are actively partaking in the programme, leading Europe in the environmental award stakes, and those that are involved have already seen the positive results of their efforts.
Achievements include reducing waste going to landfill by 50%, reducing water consumption by 50% and reducing energy consumption by up to 30% all of which impact positively on the bottom line as well as on the environment.
