Belturbet B&B nominated for national green award

A Belturbet business committed to reducing their carbon footprint has been nominated for a Green Award 2023.

Hawthorn Lodge B&B was announced as a finalist for the Green Micro Enterprise of the Year Category.

Speaking about the honour, business manager Samantha Rogers said: We are really excited and honoured to make the finals, as we are a very small family-run business amongst these big business blue-chip giants!”

The family is most proud to be representing County Cavan in the competition.

“It will be a great opportunity to promote ‘This is Cavan’ tourism, the Cuilcagh Lakelands Geopark, which we are members of, and ‘Created in Cavan’, as we are food network members,” added Samantha.

The four star, Failte Ireland approved property is a hospitality business. It has given guests from all over the world a warm welcome for the past 20 years or so. Its lakeside location also makes it popular among tourists from the angling community.

In recent years, the staff at Hawthorn Lodge changed their approach to hospitality in an effort to reduce their carbon footprint.

“With the COVID-19 pandemic, most of us took time to reflect on the environment around us and re-acquaint ourselves with nature and the great outdoors and open spaces,” explained Samantha, who began paying more attention to the media coverage on climate change and climate action during this time.

“We too have reflected on what we can do as individuals and as a business to play our part in becoming a more green, sustainable business.”

The team made a number of changes in the day-to-day running of Hawthorn Lodge.

“In any hospitality business, food waste is a big issue. With this in mind, we looked at the food waste that we generate as a business and what actions we could take to try and significantly reduce our food waste,” detailed Samantha.

Having only offered a full Irish fry for breakfast previously, the B&B now also offers a bespoke breakfast menu made from recycled materials. Guests are asked to pre-order their breakfast the evening before, which also helps to reduce food waste in the business.

Hawthorn Lodge also grows its own organic seasonal fruits, vegetables and herbs in its dedicated raised beds and polytunnels, aiding a reduction in food miles and its carbon footprint.

“We also pledged our support in sourcing and promoting local and Irish food and beverages through Failte- Ireland’s Taste Of Place campaign,” added Samantha.

Food waste

“We looked at how we could utilise our uncooked, cooked food waste and kitchen scraps and recycle it by turning it into compost. With this in mind, we decided to use the Bokashi method. In Bokashi, food waste is fermented in a bin and the juice from the contents of the bin can be used to make plant feed,” she explained.

Cooked and uncooked food waste are turned into compost in the onsite Hobin composter. Some of the uncooked food waste is also sent to a series of wormeries, which supply the large number of anglers who regularly stay at the lodge.

A three-bay composting area made using wooden pallets, which are surrounded by fruit trees, fruit bushes and raised beds, provides an essential habitat to wildlife nearby. There is also a bird feeder housed table with several feeding and water stations as well as a bird bath nearby.

“At present, we are in the middle of completing a 12-week sustainability training programme with the Cuilcagh, Lakelands Geopark and the course is run by the Tourism Space,” Samantha further revealed.

“During this course, we have covered biodiversity and have also completed the ‘Leave No Trace’ Ireland certified awareness training course.”

It’s hoped to use the knowledge obtained from this course to implement even more changes at Hawthorn Lodge B&B.

Energy and water

As part of the Business Sustainability training course at Cuilcagh Lakelands Geopark, the B&B has devised a series of action plans to help improve their energy and water efficiency by changing all lights bulbs to LED alternatives, limiting water and central heating usage, switching off appliances that are not in use, swapping single use plastic bottles for glass bottles, and much more.

The staff also encourage their guests to be as environmentally friendly as possible during their stay by outlining their policies in a guest handbook.

The Green Awards 2023 will take place in Clayton Hotel Burlington Road, Dublin on Tuesday, February 21, where the winners of the Green Micro Enterprise of the Year Category and more will be announced.