Betteshanger Sustainable Parks is the flagship sustainability project within the Hadlow Group and one of the UK’s leading sustainable developments.
Richard Morsley, Director
Betteshanger honours Earth Day
We love our Park. It is our home. It is the home to native plants, animals and insects. Betteshanger is a place of history, a place to play and a place to be with family and friends. And this week, we’ve been thinking about International Mother Earth Day and our responsibility to protect our Park and our planet.
Preserve the old, embrace the new
Our dedication to caring for the environment is in our name. The Betteshanger Sustainable Parks project is built on a commitment to creating a low carbon, sustainable business, leisure and education park for companies in food security, environmental technology, life sciences and green technologies.
Our new buildings are being designed and built to the highest levels of environmental sustainability and we plan for our new Visitor Centre to be completely off-grid.
Our aim is to preserve the heritage of Betteshanger Colliery and document the history of local coal mining through repurposing the space that was abandoned in 1989. Its new purpose – to lead us into the future of renewable technology and sustainable development.
Combined efforts
It’s a site-wide effort – the whole Betteshanger team is fully committed to protecting our environment. Our café functions with sustainability as a priority. Our new management team have been working hard to improve materials used and food sourced.
Everything in our cafe is biodegradable and can be composted so our general waste is minimal. We are committed to making sure our customers are aware of this and the advantages to helping our environment. Our customers are supporting our cause with their custom, whether it be just a coffee or a piece of cake and all of our tableware is eco-friendly.
Lauren Mackenzie, Café Manager
It’s important for us to use locally produced ingredients as much as possible, because not only does that save on fuel to transport goods overseas but it’s also supporting local businesses.
And where others use harmful plastics in their disposable cutlery and cups, all of our rigid tableware is made from a resource called waste sugar cane fibre and our plant starch cutlery is made from renewable resources, making every product 100% biodegradable and certified as compostable.
For Park and planet
So this year, with our new Bettesblog, we wanted to take the opportunity to let you know how you can look after our Park and the planet too.
When you visit, if you need to throw away your waste, do so in one of our on-site ‘waste-to-energy’ bins. Using a thermo-chemical process in which waste is heated in an oxygen deficient environment, your crisp packets and coffee cups will produce fuel that can be used in turbines or engines that produce electricity.
We also have recycling bins in the café for any plastic bottles or paper napkins you need to dispose of, so it’s easy for everyone to care for our Park and the planet.
The bigger picture
Earth Day is more than an excuse to feel good about responsibly disposing of waste for 24 hours though. This movement needs to be a part of our daily lives. In fact, this day of global action has inspired an effort to end plastic pollution and eliminate single-use plastics to save our oceans, water and wildlife.
We’re two years away from Earth Day’s 50th Anniversary. Wouldn’t it be great to look back in two years’ time and see how much progress we’ve made? It starts here, with seemingly insignificant decisions, that you have the power to change.
We only have one planet. Let’s look after it together, for our families and future generations. Make sustainability second nature and make informed decisions about how your lifestyle impacts our environment. Find out more about Earth Day.
For our Park and the planet.
