Sustainability

What the Great Ponsonby is doing for the environment

We, Sally and Gerry have been committed to the environment and heritage buildings most of our lives. Although we did not know each other in 1972, we both owned a copy of “The Whole Earth Catalogue” and we both identify with Joni Mitchell when she sings “they paved paradise and they put up a parking lot”.

We are active in the community and have been involved in, and sometimes instrumental in saving heritage buildings in our community. Gerry organised a heritage Festival in Ponsonby and one or other of us have been on the board of the Ponsonby Community Centre since 1993. We are both well known correspondents in the press and Gerry is often consulted on heritage issues in Auckland. We were foundation members of Oxfam New Zealand in 1990
www.oxfam.org.nz

We have restored several houses over the years using recycled NZ native timbers when possible. However, our greatest challenge has been to renovate our 1898 wooden villa without destroying the character to be a warm, fuel efficient hotel. We recycled timber and windows where possible, recycled the roofing iron as fencing and bricks as paving.

We realise our business impacts on the wider environment in which we live and depend on and so we and our staff try to minimise our impact without compromising our guests enjoyment or comfort. We are not alone in these ideals and appreciate the co-operation of and suggestions from our guests.

When you stay at the Great Ponsonby your car can stay in the car park as it is an easy walk or quick bus ride into town. We ourselves walk most places and the green Link bus runs every 10 or 15 minutes.

We are passionate about sustainability and work actively within our industry with Heritage & Character Inns and with the Tourism Association of New Zealand to define and implement the necessary conditions for promoting sustainable tourism. We also worked with Qualmark to to help develop a standard for the whole accommodation sector in New Zealand.

If you would like to counteract your carbon footprint you may help reforest Motuihe Island or pay $75 to plant your own kauri tree and get yearly reports about its progress (see www.motuihe.org.nz ). Motuihe is a beautiful island, a thirty minute ferry trip from downtown Auckland and it is a good day out. You work planting, weeding or some other job involving trees for half a day. You are given lunch meet other interesting people and then have the afternoon to yourself to explore the island or have a swim.

Some of our sustainable practices are:

• We insulated all the buildings with wool in the walls & ceilings & insulation under much of the floor.
• We investigated many forms of heating and found under floor natural gas heating with thermostat control was the most environmentally effective.
• The curtains have thermal lining .



• Palm garden studios deigned to avoid the heat of the summer sun but to enjoy the winter sun.
• Some rooms have fans. We do not need air conditioning.
• We have tall trees on our southern boundary which attract tuis and we do not have them pruned when the birds are nesting.
• We grow our own herbs with fertiliser from our worm farm.
• Our hedges provide Autumn feijoas for jam , breakfast fruit & bread.
• All fallen leaves and organic food scraps are composted.
• We were the first accommodation provider in NZ to extensively use eco products for guest amenities, laundry and for cleaning. They are highly biodegradable and made from sustainable resources. Because so many of our guests love the eco shampoo and conditioner we have them for sale.
• We use local contractors and local product where possible.



• Our eggs are free range and organic. www.frenzs.com
  
• We serve organic, Cuban coffee which supports Cuban farmers and comes to NZ by ship. It is a fair-trade product.
  
• Our stationery is printed on 50% recyclable paper.
  
• We use biodegradable bags in the rooms.
  
• We have Good Water for sale & the bottle will disintegrate when left in the sun.

If you, as a guest have any ideas about how youy can help us reduce water, power or waste we are very happy to hear them.

Some other links:

www.destinationcarbonneutral.co.nz
Independent assessments indicate that an international visitor on a 10-day tour of New Zealand will have up to 90 per cent lower carbon footprint if they use InterCity and Newmans transport services than if they drive themselves in a modern 2.0 litre rental car.

www.airnewzealand.co.nz
Their new Dreamliner planes could be called Greenliner as they have cut emissions by 30%.

www.transcenic.co.nz
In summer this is a good train service to Wellington.