Sustainability

Here at Kinlay Hostel we recognize that tourism leaves behind a carbon footprint – our goal is to reduce our footprint as much as possible. Through environmentally-friendly initiatives, sustainable practices, and community involvement we are committed to reducing our impact on the environment.

We are a member of Sustainable Travel Ireland. They are Ireland’s leading and longest-running body for the promotion of sustainable and responsible tourism.

Changes we have made during our most recent renovations in 2020.

  1. Sustainability Kinlay All of our lights in the building are LED lights – reducing our electricity usage by 23%
  2. Brand new water refill station. Since its installation in January 2020 our counter shows we have saved over 20,000 plastic bottles.
  3. Our breakfast is free of single use plastic items
  4. All our shower heads have been upgraded to aerated shower heads. These shower heads work by restricting the volume of water that they allow to flow through them. We have reduced our water usage by 25% in the past year.

Other changes we have made:

Our cups & lids are compostable and can be disposed of in our newly introduced compost bin.

We also provide ceramic cups for use and encourage guests to use these when sitting in.

Our coffee is Java Republics Organic and Fairtrade coffee. Java Republic are a carbon neutral roastery. Its another reason we have them as our supplier, apart from their great tasting coffee!

We were the first stockists in Ireland of ‘Atlantic Life’s’ Biodegradable Bottle & Label.

The bottle are made with TRU – PAC Eco – Only. They can be fully recycled and will biodegrade naturally over time.

We have reusable water bottles available for our guests to purchase for a small fee. Reusable water bottles are better for the environment and cheaper in the long run than continuously buying bottled water again and again. After all, water out of the refill station is free!

We encourage our guests to think about their water consumption with stickers in each bathroom!

We introduced a ‘Think Before You Bin’ it campaign.

Kinlay Green TeamWe introduced a Green Team. All departments in the hostel are involved in creating ideas and implementing sustainability practices.

Our team do regular beach clean ups.

Every week we run a fitness challenge for staff and guests. They need to log a certain amount of walks, runs or cycles each week. We have noticed that this encourages staff to walk or cycle to work more cutting down on their use of cars and public transport.

We now have a state of the art Keyless Mobile Check – in system! Cutting down significantly on the use of plastic keycards and paper security passes!

We are a member of Sustainable Travel Ireland