Our Sustainability Policy

Welcome to The Lake House Bed and Breakfast Rotorua, New Zealand, which is situated in a fascinating environment and cultural area.

We understand that all businesses create environmental and social impact through their activities.  Our aim is to actively reduce any adverse effects, where possible, without compromising the quality of the service and experience we offer.  We are proud of the initiatives we have introduced so far and encourage guests to take part in reducing their carbon footprint as they travel around New Zealand.

Our initiatives so far:

We have joined The Rotorua Sustainable Tourism Charter and
have gained  qualmark's Enviro - Silver award.
We buy products from local sources where possible,
We use Fair Trade plunger coffee and only buy free range eggs.
We regularly talk with our neighbours to ensure that we are aware of, and promptly deal with, any noise or other nuisance issues that may arise from our business.
To  save energy we:
Have installed Solar water heating
Have replaced all light bulbs with either cfl bulbs or halogen bulbs for lights with dimmer switches.
Turn off electrical appliances at the wall when rooms are unoccupied.
Only operate the dish washer and washing machine when full and washing is line dried where possible.
Use Gull Force 10 biofuel which is a high octane fuel containing 10% bioethanol that is a renewal energy source, a natural by product of the dairy industry thus directly reducing our carbon emmissions.
Monitor energy consumption.
To save water we:
Provide plugs for all basins and toilets have dual flush systems.
Only operate the dish washer and washing machine  when full
Water the garden, when needed, in the evening to give plants maximum benefit before evaporation
To minimise and manage waste we:
Recycle all paper, glass, plastics, aluminium and tin and regularly take them to the local recycling depot.
Have garden waste collected and taken to the Council green waste station.
Keep packaging to a minimum by buying bulk where practicable, using dispensers  instead of throw away single serve toiletries, using filtered water instead of bottled, by making home made goods and growing our own herbs.
Offer news on the net, decline advertising circulars in the post and market online to reduce hard copy collateral.
Reduce consumables by keeping electronic copies, reusing paper and using refillable non-toxic ink cartridges.
Use reusable shopping bags
Where possible, all future paper purchases including toilet tissue will be from recycled paper
To prevent pollution we:
Use eco friendly toiletries, detergents, cleaning agents and chemicals and use bio-degradable bags instead of plastic bags
We use Gull Force 10 biofuel.
Wash the car at an approved car washing facility to prevent contaminated run off entering the lake.
We only use sub contractors who follow our policy.

We invite our guests to help us care for this unique part of New Zealand by:

Choosing the frequency of having towels changed and whether or not to have sheets changed when staying 3 or more nights, impacting on the water and energy and detergent usage. 
Placing recyclables in the bin provided to help reduce land fill and avoid depleting natural resources.
Turning off lights and appliances when not in the room to conserve energy, and by turning off taps when not directly using water to conserve water.
Offering guests the opportunity to reduce their own carbon foot prints by supporting The Hannah's Bay Restoration Project, our local wetland and reserve area, by buying a native tree which is then planted for them by the Hannahs Bay Catchment Group.

Our commitment to sustainability in our B&B will be an ongoing journey which will improve with time as procedures are annually reviewed and new initiatives implemented.  We encourage guests to give us feedback on ways to improve our environmental performance.

Our community:
Our Community is important to us.  We are working with the Hannah's Bay Catchment group to restore, protect and maintain the overall ecology of the Otauria Wetland and Hannah’s Bay Reserve by donating and planting trees.

We make a donation each year to the local Riding For The Disabled Club and we are volunteer marshals for an annual Rotorua children's cycling event.

Ken is the president of the local @home Association and Carol is on the committee.

   Ken and Carol planting trees at Hannah's Bay