Environment:

Over 3,000 native trees and shrubs have been planted in the gardens and grounds since 2004. Each year new areas in the gardens are identified for further tree planting and landscaping. This encourages nature birds and reduces demand for water.

We worked hard to find ways to implement better recycling for the Marlborough Sounds, currently there is none available, so we are proud to say that we are implementing the final steps to our own recycling system, starting this summer.

The Portage potable water treatment is of a high quality, combining filtration and UV treatment. We are very frugal with our use of water – our gardens are designed to not need water, using natural species which are designed for local rainfall patterns. We use saltwater in the summer for our swimming pool.

Electricity continues to be an expensive and difficult area to manage – we use energy saver lightening including LED wherever possible across the Hotel, and have energy efficient practices. In 2009 we conducted an energy audit with the assistance of MANZ which assisted with our improvements.

We work with the Kenepuru community, by supporting their initiatives, providing assistance to community groups and promoting those things which improve the life of the community.

A great journey starts with small steps and a small leak will sink a great ship, so if you want to achieve big results you have to work on the small things. So we started with changing hand towels, toilet paper and other paper products to recycled paper. We moved to degradable plastic bags in all our rooms, housekeeping and back of house bins. We are using only environmentally friendly products for toiletries and cleaning products, and we only use energy saver bulbs...these are only a few examples of all the things we have done so far!

Involve yourself in our environmental program and reduce your impact on the environment by reusing towels, reducing water consumption, switching off lights when not being used and help us to recycle your waste during your stay at THE PORTAGE RESORT HOTEL.