Beachcomber Holiday Park Sustainability Strategy – Management Assignment Help

Assignment Task

 

WASTE MANAGEMENT
Welcome
The people of the Yuin Nation are the traditional custodians of the land we now know as Eurobodalla. Yuin people have lived in the area for thousands of years and have an enduring custodianship and connection over the land and waterways of Eurobodalla. The Yuin Nation are the original stewards and carers of the lands on which we now live, work and play. We pay respect to elders, past, present, future and we stive continually to build strong ethical, moral and holistic based relationships with all First Nations Peoples.

People are our Business
With over 10000 guests/visitors a year Beachcomber Holiday Park certainly has an impact on the lives of many. Our greatest challenge is making sure the impacts created by our guests/visitor’s whist at Beachcomber and traveling to and fro are positive ones. This holistic undertaking includes the sustainability of our business, care and stewardship for environment we operate within, collaboration with, and respect for all communities in between.

Our People’s waste is Our Problem
Our Guests/Visitors/Team generate over 87 tonnes of waste each year. As a business it’s our largest operational expense and our number 1 negative impact on the environment. Whist 17 tonnes of Beachcombers waste is recycled, 70 tonnes still go to landfill. That is 8KG of waste to land fill per guest/visitor. It’s a load of rubbish

Mission Statement
Our mission is to provide a safe, clean, sustainable, and educational based tourism operation
We will continuously look to eliminate environmental and social impacts that may pose threats to the Planet and Our People whilst delivering a Nature is Natural based holiday experience
Our People : in this definition means, our guests, our staff, our surrounding communities, our suppliers, our fellow humans , our stakeholders, our traditional custodians and all future generations.

Our Impacts
Waste is our main operational cost and creates our biggest negative impact, not only does it impact directly by adding 70 tonne per year to Landfill, it also leads to increased levels of CO2 emissions through the transporting the waste from us to landfill sites. Our waste removal provider Cleanaway travels approximately 1600KM per year to dispose of our waste. Reducing the amount of waste generated will have a direct positive impact on lowering CO2 emissions that we are directly responsible for.
Recycling is also undertaken at Beachcomber and we as a collective send 17 tonnes to the recycle facility at Moruya . Wish Cycling is a real problem at Beachcomber, and this could be attributed to the larger recycling bins (1110 litre) we have on site. These large mixed recycling bins allow for large volume/sizes of materials to be places in them that does lead to guest throwing large boxes of mixed unsorted waste into them.
Note: We will not collect refundable bottles as they pose a OHS risk if damaged and due to their overall weight (on average 1 box of empty glass beer bottles weighs the same as 7 boxes of empty aluminium beer cans )

Goals
1/ Reduce general waste costs 15 % over the next 3 years/10% first year/5 % next two year
2/ Reduce recycling costs by 30 % over the next 3 years / 10% per year/%5 next two years
3/ Generate revenue for charities to the value of $1000 each year for the next three years
4/ Become Carbon Neutral by 2025

NOTE: Calculations from litre to tonne are averages based on the formula supplied by Green Industries SA using their calculation tools https://www.greenindustries.sa.gov.au/ . A differential will occur in costs/tonnes due to the fact we will be reducing the number of bins getting emptied but not necessarily the amount of waste generated.

Actions
1/ Limit the number of bins available to be filled. At the moment all bins are accessible leading to half full bins being collected on pick up days (we get charged per collected used bin regardless of if it half full or full) Completed
2/ Decrease the amount of waste coming to the site though improved purchasing practices (internally) and educating our guests about the importance of AVOIDING Waste. This will be done via social media platforms and booking correspondence . Completed (See Exhibit A )
Exhibit A : Please be mindful of the rubbish you’re bringing with you as we must dispose of it.
REDUCE, REUSE, RECYCLE wherever possible.
3/Encourage better recycling practices at the property though improved / strategically placed signage. By Nov 2021
4/ Repositioning the recycling bin locations so they are more assessable and are located closer to the camps site to encourage usage. Completed
2/ Improved purchasing practises (Internal) for our kiosk/shop so we limit the number of products for sale that can’t be recycled. Ongoing
3/ Educate guest and team members on the importance of correct recycling practices via our social media avenues, at kid’s club activities and through informative but simplistic signage. Ongoing
4/Set up designated charity bins in highly visible locations throughout the property that are distinguishable by colour, size and signage.. Completed
6/ Make the bins at a height that is accessible for kids and have a flick back flap so the kids can have a bit of fun as they will be the leaders in our quest in collecting refundable units. Oct 2021.
7/ Do carbon footprint assessment (Underway for completion Jan 2022)
8/ Create awareness through branding and social media Ongoing
9/ Develop Carbon off set program (if required) with Australian based provider (Jan 2022)
10/ Work with booking platform to create in house carbon offset options for guests when booking accommodation (March 2022)

Stakeholder engagement
The best way to deal with waste is to not generate any, easier said than done but this message will play a significate park in our messaging and stakeholder engagement actions. The words Reduce, Reuse and Recycle are everywhere in society, but the AVIOD WASTE messaging is not as common. To actively reduce waste at Beachcomber we do need to AVIOD WASTE. Our stake holders are spread across our country and internationally and for this reason we see social media and guest correspondence as a key component of our messaging (including sharing simple but affective posts/messaging like this https://youtu.be/aTcMPy . If we can limit waste arriving, we have less to deal with. Other stake holders such as our waste removal contractor Cleanaway will help with new, clean, and clearly branded bins. Our management company will assist with funding and legislative support when any grants or legally based actions are required, this is very relative in relation to our aim of becoming Carbon Neutral by 2025. Ongoing Engagement and connectivity with Our People will be primarily driven by hosting and promoting nature based educational weekends/movie nights along with active participation in events like
Earth Hour 26th March 2022

Clean Up Australia Day 6 March 2022
Whale Count and Census Day 22 Sep 2022
World Oceans Day 8 th June 2022
World environment Day June 5th 2022

It will allow us to deliver learning and sustainability messaging across a larger audience. More so it will showcase us as being emotionally connected and committed to the actions we undertake.
Alignment/Certification
Alignment with UN development goals numbers 15 , “ Ending environmental decline and restoring our planet is fundamental to sustainable development “ Citation required As operators of a tourism venture within a National Park we need to become custodians of this delicate and diverse ecosystem. Creating and environment where Nature comes first is critical in our efforts to develop a sustainable business..” It is time to put the health of the planet at the centre of all our plans and policies.” 
Alignment with UN Development goals 13” Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts”. Citation required, As an Off the Grid operation (striving to be Carbon Neutral by 2025 ) we can become leaders in Carbon Free Travel whist educating and inspiring other tourism operators to implement climate change actions.

We will aim to become Climate Action Certified Citation Required (https://www.ecotourism.org.au/our-certification-programs/eco-certification-3/ ) with Ecotourism Australia. It is Australia’s leading Eco Tourism organization that primary focuses on inspiring environmentally sustainable and culturally responsible tourism.
Beachcomber Holiday Park has just been accredited as a Gumnut Eco Holiday Park (See Exhibit C ) , this accreditation is through our Industry body the CCIA (Caravanning and Camping Industry Association)

Summary
Beachcomber is meeting its short-term goals of generating revenue for charities via the collection of refundable items and reducing the costs of waste disposal. These small wins are important as tools to motivate key stakeholder groups and keep them all engaged. Implementing a Sustainability Plan and Frameworks around it is our next challenge and it will play a major role in our goal to become carbon neutral by 2025.
Whist big picture goals, targets and aspirations are critical in our overall business sustainability we can not forget the importance of having and sharing small win with our Key Stakeholders (Our Guests) as collectively they generate 80% of all our venue and are responsible for 90% of our costs. They will be visiting and holidaying at Beachcomber long after the current management team/group move on so it is imperative the seed for Sustainable practices is planted within them all.