Our Environmental Commitment

 

Environmental Statement

At Mount Richmond Estate, we strongly believe in reducing our short, medium and long-term impact on the beautiful part of paradise that we live in here in New Zealand.  We strive to reduce waste in terms of rubbish, excess energy use and water consumption.

Most of our customers appreciate the fragility of the environment that we live in and we invite you to help us in our endeavours.   Together we can make a better world.  Your ideas are always welcome too!

 Planning and Building

During our planning stages of building we incorporated latest technology for sound and thermal insulation, energy and water use. 

 

Living in the sunniest area of New Zealand, and with the majority of our units having north facing roofs we took advantage of the sun and installed solar panels for the heating of your hot water.  These work fantastically well, only requiring electrical back up during some winter months and badly overcast days.   Many guests ask how these work and we are more than happy to introduce you to the technology behind this. 

 The motels are extremely well insulated to maintain the heat in winter and keep the unit cool in the hotter months.   Walls and ceilings are insulated along with internal walls to maintain heat and sound control qualities.   Daikin energy efficient heat exchange pumps are fitted to the units. 

Dual flush, low water use toilets are also installed site wide.   We have also fitted advanced wastewater treatment systems.  

 Water, Gardens and Locally Sourced Produce

Whilst on the subject of conserving water all our gardens are barked to retain moisture in the soil and inhibit evaporation.   We also try to use natural predator control such as crushed egg shells to stave off snails and slugs, and banana skins to stop aphids. 

On the gardening side we grow a lot of our own herbs; we also produce some of our fruit requirements including apples, raspberries, blueberries, rhubarb.  Other ingredients such as lemons are grown nearby; our free range eggs are from the neighbouring Ronga Valley.   We have recently planted orange and pear trees for future use.

 Recycling

We actively support recycling of packaging materials.   To this end we have recycling bins for paper, glass, plastic, and aluminium cans.