A new rooftop garden has been constructed at the Cork International Hotel. It will be used to grow vegetables and herbs for the hotel’s team of chefs. The ingredients will also be used in cocktails sold at the bar. The opening of the new addition coincides with Earth Day which takes place this Thursday, April 22nd. Earth Day marks the anniversary of the birth of the modern environmental movement in 1970.
The Cork International Hotel has set ambitious goals to lower its carbon footprint by 5% every year by reducing energy consumption and waste. The hotel plans to reduce waste by 15% in the next year and to achieve these goals, they will be implementing an inhouse composting system.
The hotel is working with its team to encourage eco-friendly practises at work and at home. It’s also engaging with suppliers to reduce the amount of waste going to landfill and is introducing ‘carbon neutralising’ initiatives for guests after travelling. All team members at the hotel have begun a 6 month training programme with “50 Shades Greener”.
General Manager of the Cork International Hotel, Carmel Lonergan said: “We are committed to ensuring that our activities at the hotel have the least possible detrimental impact on the environment. The construction of a rooftop garden is just one element of this. We are dedicated to our team’s education and awareness to ensure that there is a culture of environmental responsibility across the company at every level which will ensure our sustainable strategy is maintained year on year. During the past year, it really gave us an opportunity to see what improvements we can make as individuals and as a business. It has been so fulfilling and actually so much fun to see how we have all worked together as a team to bring our vision to reality.”
Hotel Greening Manager, Edel Kavanagh said: “It is such an honour to have been appointed as the Greening Manager for the hotel, along with my existing role of Front Office Manager. We all have a responsibility to look after the world that we live in and it is such an exciting project for us as a team. We are passionate about making a difference but we are also really excited about the creative and fun challenges that we have set for the team over the next few months”.
Head Chef at the Cork International Hotel, Christopher O’Sullivan said: “It’s wonderful to see what was an unused space being turned into a practical, kitchen garden. We’re committed to responsibly sourced produce and you can’t get more responsibly sourced than vegetables and herbs grown on our own roof. It also means we will have the freshest ingredients possible in our food and drinks.”
