Fota Wildlife Park is the first Zoological Institution in Ireland to be accredited with the prestigious international ‘Green Flag’ award. The accreditation, granted by An Taisce, was for their work on the An Taisce ‘Eco-Centre’ Programme and followed two years of sustained work and a rigorous assessment by an expert panel.
The An Taisce ‘Eco-Centre’ programme, was undertaken by Fota Wildlife Park staff and its catering partners – Kudos Catering within the last 2 years and included Fota Wildlife Park’s campaign “Going Green – Staying Green”. This work had the objective of reducing the park’s ecological footprint.
Fota Wildlife Park contracted Waste Management Solutions (WMS) to conduct a comprehensive waste audit and work with them to achieve the objectives of the ‘Eco-Centre’ programme by supporting the “Going Green – Staying Green” campaign.
As a result of various aspects of the programme, Fota Wildlife Park has increased its recycling rate from 21% to 70%, developed systems for composting food waste generated onsite from cafes, restaurants and animal food preparation areas, integrated sustainability elements such as rain water harvesting, solar panels and a wood boiler into new buildings on the site. Fota Wildlife Park has also undertaken a number of educational and outreach events including a European Week of Waste Reduction (EWWR) event for families.
David Noone, Managing Director of WMS, says:“These recycling rates should grow further to a figure closer to 80% to 85% with the ongoing improvements to the waste management system currently in use at Fota Wildlife Park. Through these ongoing improvements Fota Wildlife Park can be confident in renewing its ‘Green Flag’ status.”
CAPTION
David Noone of WMS joins Fota Wildlife Park in raising the Green Flag.