RESPONSIBLE TOURISM STATEMENT
WE TAKE THE GREEN ROAD FOR A MORE SUSTAINABLE HABITAT!
At Habitat HQ we believe in being ‘green’ & have now been awarded an official GREEN Star rating from AAA Tourism. We want to be an environmentally sustainable business! We’re committed to finding out how we can make a positive impact on YOU and less of an impact on the environment.
It is a priority for us to be a sustainable business & to participate on a local level as a working part of the global community.
A Sustainability Report on our business resulted in the team at Habitat HQ adopting green habits to reduce our carbon foot print & promoting that our guests support our business goals.
Energy Efficiency
Waste Management
Water Conservation
Community
PROMOTING GREEN TO OUR GUESTS
Our GREEN stand in our lounge tells EVERYONE of our changes, ideas and goals for the future.
As a guest Habitat HQ we invite you to join in our green approach & to honour our suggested daily practices for the preservation of our local habitat. Our policies are practically based but we hope to provoke an increased awareness of a ‘green’ consciousness. We are learning all the time & hope our ‘Green Committee’ will keep evolving & re-evaluating. Any suggestions from our guests is always welcome.
CONSERVATION VOLUNTEER AUSTRALIA WORK - EVERY 3rd THURSDAY OF THE MONTH
Habitat HQ has a strong relationship with Conservation Volunteer Australia (CVA) and our Events Guru supports local conservation work to care for the local eco systems & the wildlife living within them. Monthly, Habitat HQ musters guests wanting to volunteer for 1 day to support the 'Habitat Bandicoot Recovery Project'. Organised for you, CVA do a pick up & drop off straight to Habitat HQ's door and the day is more like a fun free 1 day tour set in bushland on the outskirts of the city. Spotting wallaby's, bird life & enjoying lunch in the bush setting means the couple of hours hands on work you do is very paced & by no means hard. Our staff loved it & our volunteers rave about it.
You can learn more about the 1 day volunteer program at our Event Guru's Habitat Hibernation event. Your support for this Eastern Barred bandicoot recovery project is very much appreciated. The Eastern Barred bandicoot is a species on the brink of extinction & the CVA project is regenerating a natural breeding environment which is essential for its survival.
Expert CVA project managers & environmental experts brief & educate you on the Eastern Barred bandicoot Recovery Process, walking you through the natural habitat explaining the importance of regeneration, weeding requirements, sustainability & the challenges of the bandicoot's survival in regards to preying domestic animals. Just a handful of these animals remain in wild populations and it is only through re-establishing areas of natural bandicoot habitat that will ensure the Eastern Barred bandicoot a long term survival. CVA rely on volunteers to provide invaluable funding and assistance to make this happen.
Check out our staff & guests volunteering on our Facebook to see the fun & satisfaction our guests have on the 1 day volunteer program.
MEASURES TO REDUCE HABITAT HQ’s CARBON FOOTPRINT
Energy Efficiency
- Thermostats installed in every room, regulate optimal temperature
- All lights that burn continuously have energy efficient bulbs
- Lights in vestibules & outside are on timers
- We have all energy efficient fittings
- We monitor our electricity, gas and water usage daily
- We have a turn off policy for appliances that are not in use
- Gas driven hot water systems, stove top & fireplace
- Regular maintanence of fridges to detect & eliminate leakage of CFC's & HCFC's
Waste Management
- We offer our guests recycling options situated in the guest kitchen
- We provide two bins in all of our rooms - one for recycling and one for general waste
- We reuse office paper where practical
- We reduce packaging & freight by buying bulk
Water conservation
- Water usage signs in bathrooms & kitchen. Half flush toilet signs & updated water awareness signs keep guests aware of our precious dam water levels.
- We have water reducing shower heads on all of our showers and low flow outlets on our basins
- We try to ensure we have plugs in all basins & fix drips promptly (please report dripping taps or missing plugs to reception).
Community
Habitat HQ now stocks this brand as one bottle of Thankyou Water is enough to provide clean drinking water to one person for at least one month in the developing world. Thankyou Water is a new brand of bottled water using 100% of its profits to fund water projects in developing nations across Africa and South East Asia. The Melbourne based team behind Thankyou Water say “Thankyou Water exists to bring a collision between two extremes, the world water crisis and Australia’s $600 million bottled water industry.”