Following is a copy of our application

Following is a copy of our application for the Tasman District Environmental Awards in which we won 2003 business section. Updated 29/3/05.

Q1 DESCRIPTION –

Please provide an overall description of the project(s), detailing what has been undertaken, what the environmental aims of the project are, and why you think this project deserves an Environmental Award

The business is a café bar with brewery attached.

We established the business in 1992 and since then have been progressively working towards lessening our impact on the environment through a number of initiatives plus also trying to set an example for others to follow.

These include:

Heat some of our water with solar energy
Use waterless composting toilets and waterless urinals
Re use all of the bottles we use for our own soft drinks, wines and beers
Try and make as many of the products we use on site rather than importing them
Turn our kitchen scraps into bacon and eggs
Buy in bulk as much as possible to minimise packaging and transport
Separate and compact plastics, steel and aluminium ready for recycling
Separate and compact the stuff there are no recycling facilities to deal with
Crush and dispose of all our empty mussel shells on site (used for carpark surfacing)
Give away re-usable packaging - specifically the polystyrene boxes the mussels arrive in (mainly used for exporting local pottery) (a large quantity has also been used for insulating buildings and tanks)
Compost the spent grain from the brewery or use direct for mulch
Use energy saving light bulbs where possible
Use glass milk bottles instead of throw-away containers (now not possible as the supplier has gone plastic)
Use locally grown exotic wood for heating
Use naturally durable locally grown exotic timbers for the building construction and furniture
Buy local and organic wherever possible
Smoke free environment since 2000
Use no artificial additives in either our kitchen or brewery
Offer a bounty on possum, mustalid, cat and rat tails.
and updated @ October 2007.....
Establishing an orchard adjacent to the Mussel Inn to supply apples, feijoas and lemons for use in the brewery

Q2 VISION AND PLANNING

Please provide any evidence to show the way in which the environmental vision of this project has been developed, shared with others and put into place (i.e. is it just an idea in one persons head, is their a written environmental policy, do all staff or members buy into and take part in actions etc..?)

The development of our environmental policy is an extension of the way we live and the way that we believe that things should be. Everything we do has an environmental consideration and although we know we can’t be perfect, that gives us no reason not to try.

Being a public house gives us an ideal platform from which to share our vision. It also gives us an opportunity to enlighten those who have not yet realised the benefits of looking after this world we live in.

We employ staff that are sympathetic to our vision and enthusiastic to spread the word.

Q3 RESOURCES, WASTE, EFFECTS

Please outline specifically how you make sure your project isn’t causing any other side environmental effects, describe ways in which you use resources wisely, outline how you control or manage potential effects (egg. waste reduction, control of discharges, safe use of hazardous substances, control of weeds spreading, etc..)

In a business such as ours, waste is inevitable and there will always be some output into the environment of some undesirable products. All we can hope to do is reduce these to the absolute minimum. The material that leaves our property is primarily packaging, comprising plastic, a small quantity of metal cans and a number of empty bottles (which are crushed at the local transfer centre)

By producing our own beer, wine and soft drinks, we have eliminated approximately 97% of the glass bottles that we dump. This has been achieved by buying our house wine in bulk and bottling in re-usable bottles on site. All of the bottled beverages we produce are bottled in re usable, unlabeled bottles.

We have developed, had manufactured and installed composting toilets at the Mussel Inn. This has not only eliminated the bulk of material entering our septic system (which previously had to be pumped out up to six times a year) but it has also reduced our water requirements by approximately 50%. Solid material from the toilets is hot composted on site.

Organic by-products from our kitchen either go to local hens to produce eggs or to pigs. At this stage, cardboard and paper products are incinerated on site but we ultimately plan to use some of this material as a bulking material in our composting toilets.

Q4 INNOVATION AND LEADERSHIP

Does this project demonstrate new ideas, innovation, leadership? How many other people in the industry or greater community are aware of its existence? Have you shared your good ideas with others? Is it replicable etc..?

One of our aims is to demonstrate that a business such as this can be both successful and at the same time sensitive to the environment. Being a popular public house, we are in an ideal position to do this.

Installing composting toilets was probably the most radical thing we have done to date. This will be a ‘first time’ for many of our customers and hopefully it will alert them to an option that they may not have previously concidered - in a positive way. The toilet system is not entirely new but it has been extensively redesigned to suit our circumstances. We are now manufacturing these toilets and they are now available for sale to the public.

Our possum tail bounty scheme has also been very successful. We know for sure that a good many possums have been killed as a direct response to this and our hope is that other similar businesses will make a similar offer. We are not going to eliminate these pests but at least we can offer an incentive to control them. There are very few possums left in Onekaka!

Our policy is to ‘educate by doing’. We believe that if we can prove that it can be done and that ultimately we will have a better life because of it, then others are bound to follow.

Q5 A LEARNING EXPERIENCE

Outline any problems or barriers you encountered and how you dealt with them.

There are no problems or barriers. There are just factors which one considers.

The appropriate course of action is then undertaken.

Many hours lying awake at night are just part of my life!

Q6 PROFITABILITY (For businesses to answer):

Please describe the economic effects (positive or negative) of implementing this environmental project(s) on the long-term economic viability of your operation.

All good.

The possum bounty is costing us a fortune and we wouldn’t be doing it if we weren’t making our own beer but the possum thing is costing us (all of us) a fortune anyway and at least we feel that we are doing something positive about it. The cost has been more than compensated for by the goodwill it has created and the word of mouth advertising.

The installation of the composting toilets has not only eliminated the need to have our septic tank regularly pumped out – it also brings us all the fertiliser we could ever possibly use!

The re use of bottles for our beverages has obvious cost benefits. Every time around it halves their cost.

Generally speaking, our environmental practices tend to lower our costs. The ones that actually cost us, the good look they create for us, we can write off as PR (we do no advertising and rely purely on word of mouth). Our business has been increasing steadily ever since we started .

Its hard to put a price on a satisfied concience, but when I do sleep at night - I sleep very well!