Foxton Beach Top 10 Achieves Carbon Zero

In what is a New Zealand first for Top 10 holiday parks, Foxton Beach has achieved Toitū (formerly Enviromark) Carbon Zero certification.

Carbon Zero is achieved by looking at all business activities that produce carbon, then looking at ways in which you can offset these. Effectively the holiday park goes through a rigorous audit process that ends up with a dollar figure based on the carbon generated. The more things the business can do to reduce carbon output, the less it has to pay for carbon credits to get to a dollar amount of zero.

Owner Uwe Kroll was surprised at how much carbon is actually produced by everyday business operations at the holiday park. “When you go through a Carbon audit, it really makes you very aware that everything we do has some sort of impact. It made us very determined to see what steps we could do to reduce our carbon footprint.”

The Holiday Park went over all their carbon producing activities to see what could be reduced or eliminated. They cut right down on petrol and diesel use by using electric scooters instead of the 4 x 4 motorbike.

By seeking out other Carbon Zero suppliers they also found other practical steps. As an example they changed the company that took away their waste to one that 100% recycled all glass.

“We also looked at our water and energy use. We were able to find ways to cut down on water flow that reduced our use of gas for heating. We’re also in the process of moving to a 100% carbon zero electricity supplier. We even stopped all air travel related to the business,” Uwe Kroll said.

Over time the holiday park wants to try to get to a truly carbon zero position. This means that carbon credits don’t have to be bought to offset the difference.

“We have also looked at other environmental projects in the area. We’ve been actively planting native trees as well as rat and stoat trapping. We’re also next to a RAMSAR bird sanctuary,” said Uwe.

For further information about Foxton Top 10 Holiday Park, visit their website.

This is an example of TSC Commitment 11 - Carbon Reduction.