Our Commitment
The green initiatives are an integral part of the ethos of responsible tourism
principles which Tsitsikamma Backpackers was established upon.
These principles also incorporate the stimulation of local socio economic upliftment
through the recruitment, training and empowering community members to become
professionals in the backpacking sector.
Tsitsikamma Backpackers, although not accredited as a “Fair Trade” establishment
has been fully endorsed on the principles of fair trade from the onset with the
objective of becoming Fair Trade in 2012.
We are a Greenline accredited company, Please click here to view the code of conduct .VIEW OUR CERTIFICATE
“Local Procurement” of goods and services is an essential principle applied to
stimulate the peripheral businesses.
Enviromental Green Policy:
The establishment has an environmental management plan in place which addresses potential impacts. These include:
The bio waste water system which separates sewerage and grey water. The grey water is then recycled for use in the garden, reducing water usage by 30%.
Solar Hot Water System: The state of the art solar system supplies all the hot water requirements.
The system is extremely efficient and works on cylindrical glass vacuum tubes to harness sunlight.
A 40% reduction inn electricity consumption has been evident with the “Green Solar System” All the lights are energy saving conserving approximately 70% of power use.
Total energy consumption has been reduced by 50% through the solar hot water system and lighting.
One thousand “indigenous plants” and trees have been introduced into the garden which is now 80% indigenous further reducing the carbon foot print.
A recycling initiative ensures that all glass, plastic, paper and cans are separated and recycling bins are provided. The separated bulk waste is transported to a collection depot.
An “Orange” base liquid soap is used. This is derived from orange peels which is totally bio degradable. The product is totally natural and used for all cleaning applications.
Alien vegetation is used for firewood thus stimulating the removal of aliens. All garden refuse is composted and recycled back into the garden.
Greenline Responsible Tourism Charter:
We, the owners, management and staff of Tsitsikamma Backpackers declare our support, motivation, action and commitment to operating as a world-class responsible tourism business through the implementation of responsible tourism practices that protect and enhance the natural, cultural, social and economic environment in which we operate.
To this end, we commit ourselves to:
- making positive contributions to the conservation of our cultural and natural heritage and to the protection of our biodiversity;
- minimise negative economic, environmental and social impacts associated with our operations; providing a more enjoyable and educational experience for our visitors and clients through encouraging and creating meaningful interaction with local communities;
- creating greater appreciation, awareness and understanding of local cultural, social and environmental issues;
- being sensitive to the cultures in our community and engendering respect between our visitors and the community;
- providing accurate information about our facilities, services and responsible business practices;
- creating greater economic linkages with local people and to the enhancement and wellbeing of our local community;
- continually improving our responsible business practices;
- inviting our visitors and guests to comment and criticise our performance and objectives;
- giving effect to the principles, standards and objectives of the GreenLine Responsible Tourism Rating Programme and relevant national standards.
VIEW OUR RESPONSIBLE TOURISM CODE | VIEW OUR CERTIFICATE
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