sustainability
Green Choices for a Brighter Future
The phrase sustainability is associated with resources that are limited and non-renewable which should be used conservatively and wisely for long term use. Making sustainable life choices helps to support ecological, human, and economic health and vitality.
Here at The Fenn Bell Conservation Project, we have been implementing new practices and equipment to make our business more sustainable.
Within the restaurant, single use plastics are almost entirely eliminated, with most products now converted to Vegware which is both compostable and biodegradable. We have also stopped the sale of bottle water, moving to canned water instead, and we no longer offer sauce or vinegar sachets instead switching to reusable bottles for vinegar and sauce stations with paper cups. We aim to encourage litter-free lunches by only offering reusable plates and utensils to our customers.
To reduce our carbon footprint, we aim to source our produce locally, which in turn also supports local businesses. For example, all fruit and vegetables used within the restaurant and the zoo are sourced from local suppliers and the meat used within the restaurant is sourced from a butcher in Maidstone.
To avoid large amounts of waste at our business, we have switched to hand dryers across all our toilets instead of providing paper hand towels. We further promote recycling both on site, and through our educational provisions, as well as ensuring we are recycling whenever possible as a business. For example, scrap wood and other materials from building and deliveries are used in the construction of our animal enrichment, bug hotels, minibeast homes, bird boxes and bat boxes. We ensure that any new wood that is needed for building around our site is FSC approved, and we have built many of our platforms out of recycled timber donated by Roots Timber Reuse C.I.C. who we look forward to continue working closely with.
Roots Timber Reuse C.I.C. is a community interest company based in Medway which provides waste wood collection services to the Dartford, Gravesham and Medway areas. Every collection is loaded by hand; this means they are able to pack the wood in tightly and don’t just pile it on, so you can be sure you’re getting the best value. None of the wood collected is ever sent to landfill, they don’t just recycle wood – they reuse it, providing the community with affordable wood products and ensuring no usable wood gets ‘downcycled’ into woodchip.
Click their logo to find out more!
Future Goals!
To ensure that energy from renewable sources is used on site, we have a planning application currently submitted to Medway Council to allow us to install over 200m2 of solar panels and a water bore hole in the future.
To further reduce our carbon footprint, we are currently looking to source a range of wines and spirits from local brewers.