KAITIAKITANGA – Our role as guardians of the land.
We know how lucky we are to live in the heart of Fiordland. Snowy mountain ranges replace high-rise buildings and Lake Te Anau takes the place of busy carparks. Traffic noise is silenced by the abundance of bird song not the other way around. It would be hard to look around and not be committed to keeping our beautiful country pristine.
Below are the initiatives we are most proud of. We are committed to evolving these initiatives to continue to keep our environmental footprint to a minimum.
1. Housekeeping
- We are 98% chemical free, using mainly biodegradable cleaning products.
- We use colour coded microfibre cloths which are more effective at cleaning when combined with just water than the traditional chemical and cloth method.
- Compostable rubbish bags are used rather than biodegradable or plastic. The bags we source are made from sustainable corn starch and water-based eco-friendly inks. These bags fully decompose at a similar speed to food and paper.
- Guests staying in serviced rooms can forfeit their room service in lieu of a donation to the Fiordland Conservation Trust
2.Guest Amenities
- Our motel amenities that we provide for guest use are all made in New Zealand, are biodegradable and also cruelty free.
- Our used soap bars go to the Beyond Skin Deep programme. These new refined soap bars are distributed by the Rapid Response Relief Team to vulnerable communities to improve hygiene and help save lives. Over one and a half million children under the age of five die each year due to poor sanitation.
- The unused product inside the motel amenities goes into recycled bottles and is distributed to charities in New Zealand. Auckland City Mission and Women’s refuge are two of the main benefactors.
- The empty motel amenity plastic bottles (As well as any left behind by guests) are shipped to the Future Post Programme. This programme repurposes domestic and commercial waste and repurposes it into premium fencing products in New Zealand.
3. Sustainably sourced bedding and towelling
- We use a luxury bedding range that is filled with a premium hypoallergenic microfibre. This microfibre is made from recycled plastic bottles and believe it or not is so soft. Our guests rave about it and are always asking if they can buy the pillows and blankets.
- In the past 12 months the bedding we have purchased has been made from over 6000 recycled plastic bottles
- There is one native tree planting funded for every 8 pillows we purchase through this initiative also.
- All of our new towelling we purchase is Pure Green Towelling. 40% of grown cotton is not used in cotton production. This cotton fibre waste is reclaimed and regenerated to produce a towelling range that is cleaner and stronger than traditional cotton. For every 10 towels made, 4.6kg of cotton waste is reclaimed. This process has incredible benefits for the environment, including water savings of up to 1,541 litres per towel. Unbelievably, this process also creates zero waste.
Trees that Count
- We are supporters of the Trees that Count. Planting native trees is one of the most powerful actions we can take to combat climate change, protect our beautiful landscapes, waterways and forests for future generations.