Making Our B&B More Environmentally Friendly

Our overall aim at the inn is to provide hotel-like amenities in a homey atmosphere, and we've been rethinking some of our practices to see how we can reduce our impact by doing more to conserve resources and eliminate waste. We've been doing many things along this line for years: recycling, taking measures to avoid wasting food, allowing guests to opt for re-using towels and linens, sending confirmations by email to reduce paper use, using energy saving light bulbs. Lately, we've adopted some new practices.

It’s important to stay hydrated in our climate, so we have provided complimentary bottled water in our rooms. This resulted in quite a large volume of recycling. Now we're offering filtered water in re-usable, BPA-free bottles. We sanitize the bottles between uses and also offer them for sale in our gift shop. We do keep some commercially-bottled water on hand for guests who prefer it.

For several years, we have provided high-quality conditioning shampoo, bath gel, and hand soap in dispensers in each room's private bath, in addition to individually-bottled amenities and wrapped bar soap. Now we've stopped including the small bottles and the bar soap, except in the Yankee Girl Room and the Shakespeare Room because the shower configuration in those rooms doesn't allow for dispensers. The products we use are Environmentally Sensitive Amenities brand available from Accent Amenities in Oregon. We will still provide the individual amenities if guests request them.

Some of our initiatives are behind the scenes. We shop with re-usable bags. Our landscaping features hardy plants that need less water. We have an energy-efficient washer and dryer (plus an older, conventional set, so we’re halfway there), and an energy-efficient dishwasher. We heat water for the inn with our boiler, which is more efficient than water heaters.

Many B&Bs are leading the way in efforts to "green" their establishments and reduce their impact. We're pleased to be a part of that effort.

Thanks for reading my Innkeeper's Blog!

Annette