ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY
Environmental & Socio-economic Responsibilities
This isn't something that we only pay lip service to because it makes guests feel good about booking or increases our profits. It is endemic through Mountain Innovations whole operation and it stems from Andrew's life long interest in the natural world and a deep desire to see it flourish. Biodiversity is the modern term for what we aspire to. It is based on a belief that the greater the indigenous biodiversity, the stronger and more productive the environment is, and the more able it is able to support the high demands man places on it. This isn't to say, of course, that mankind need not reduce its demands on the environment on which we all still ultimately depend.
Let's be honest, in this world of ours where we are so dependant on oil, it's virtually impossible to be totally environmentally responsible. Be suspicious of anyone who claims they are! Virtually everything we all do or create oil will have had some involvement. This isn't to say being environmentally sustainable isn't worth striving for, we would say it's vital. With our Cairngorm based holidays we have complete control of our operation and through our desire to minimalise our demands on the environment we provide some of the most environmentally sustainable holidays and courses available.
What we actually do - our Environmental Policy.
This is the important bit and what often costs time. Overall our approach is to abide by the 3 R's: Reduce, Re-use, Recycling, in that order. In fact Mountain Innovations goes one stage further with a 4th R - Resourceful - sustainably, of course.
We are the only operator who can claim to be sustainably self-sufficient in anyway. It may only be in 3 things: herbs, kindling and compost, but it is a start. We have been self sufficient in these things since we opened in 1998. Why is it good to be self-sufficient. Well there is far less, virtually zero, inbound energy. There's no packaging and in our case, no transport involved.
We compost all kitchen vegetable waste and non-woody garden waste i.e. all weeds, 'soft' cuttings, lawn cuttings, etc. We have over 4 cubic meters of composting capacity which is a lot but is an appropriate for the size of the grounds and amount of waist vegetable matter produced. Their size and construction allows adequate heat build up to result in the destruction of weeds and their seeds - therefore reducing the need for organic herbicides. Soil is added to form good compost. This is then spread on the garden and vegetable patch and some is riddled to produce fine potting compost. This way the nutrients are returned to the ground. We don't use horticultural peat products - the use of peat by British gardeners has resulted in the destruction of a number of bog habitats in Ireland.
All woody garden waste resulting from tree and shrub pruning are cut up, dried and used as kindling on our wood burning stove & open fire. This avoids having to purchase kindling that inevitably has far more in-bound energy or using firelighters which have their origins in fossil fuels.
We source as much local produce as we can, not least from out fantastic local butcher going by the name of Mr Mustard. We employ local instructors and guides and operate year round in the Highlands helping to sustain the local economy throughout the quieter periods. We have a shop in the village open 7 days a week and a fantastic post office open from 7am!
Newspaper and cardboard - these are reused for drying boots and lighting fires. We reuse office paper by printing on the reverse for internal company use. Junk mail, waist office paper and excess newspaper, steel and aluminium cans are all placed in our black box and collected by Highland Council for recycling.
Wood Fuel - we burn cut-offs (a saw mill waste product) in our wood burning stove and on the open fire. The wood is cut and chopped mainly by hand to minimise the use of power tools. Over the forthcoming year we plan to increase are use of wood as a fuel to reduce our demand on less environmentally friendly types of energy.
Why is wood good? Well, as long as it's grown sustainably, it doesn't introduce more carbon into the natural carbon cycle, as do fossil fuels. This is one way Mountain Innovations reduces its carbon emissions. Basically wood is a vehicle by which we convey the sun's energy to where we want it.
Going full circle When man first step foot on these Isles he would have used wood as a fuel. This is becoming one of the important fuels for the future here in the Highlands and we are now looking it a wood pellet burner for Fraoch Lodge.
Wood Ash is used on the garden as a potassium fertilizer. This is riddled to separate the ash from the charcoal which is returned to the wood stove.
Nothing left on the hill. This includes things like banana skins, orange peel, uneaten food, etc. Although all these things are ultimately biodegradable, they only do so very slowly in the mountain environment. Apart from looking unsightly, encourage scavengers like Seagulls and Crows up into an environment in which they do not belong and, come the spring/summer, they will raid the nests of species such as Ptarmigan and Snow bunting.
Native Trees to the region are encouraged to grow in the garden of Fraoch Lodge. One area of the garden has been over planted with non-native trees. These are in the process of being thinned to create more space and light for the native trees and organic growing. Inappropriately placed self-sown native saplings are transplanted to more appropriate locations. The wood is used for heating.
Glass is recycled via the local bottle banks, though we do feel that re-use would be far more preferable to avoid the huge amount of energy used to melt the glass down to make new bottles. We have notices in our accommodation encouraging guests to recycle glass and newspapers
Clothes and footwear are also sent for reuse or recycling and replaced computer equipment is sent to a charity that sends it on to less developed countries. Our used printer cartridges are set away for recycling and all unwanted furniture is collected by a local charity working to help the homeless.
We are signed up to Green Electricity whereby the supplier plants trees on the basis of the number of units sold. Mountain Innovations has a policy of replacing broken or worn out lighting and appliances with energy efficient versions. Guests are encouraged to take showers rather than baths to conserve water. There are notices in the bathrooms to this effect. We minimise the use of water in the garden and do not water the lawn however dry. We've also reduced the over capacity in our toilet cisterns to further conserve water.
Carrier bags are re-used for carrying groceries so we reduce our demand. They are also used as bin liners. We do not use large black dustbin liners preferring to regularly wash the dustbin out.
We encourage guests to use public transport by offering free transfers between Inverness Airport and Aviemore train station and by using a minibus to transport our guests between the accommodation and the start of the route when on our guided walking holidays or courses.
Minimizing your impact Mountain Innovations is always looking for new ways of reducing our demands on the natural environment, so you can be rest assured that by booking on a Mountain Innovations holiday or course you will be keeping you impact on the environment to an absolute minimum. Environmental Policy
