GREENMark Eco-Friendly Business

Application FormInformation required for a Listing for hospitality businesses that operate Responsibly and

are not members of any GreenTravel.ie recognised sustainability or responsible programme

This form can be used by a business that is applying directly to GreenTravel.ie for the Eco-Friendly Business GREENMark by choosing the Option 1 route – no consultant support.

For Option 2 applicants these will be the areas that your consultant will cover and which you need to prepare documentation on to assist the process.

Your Business Name:

Type of Business:

Guidelines for completion.

You should read the “A Guide to completing the application for recognition” before you proceed any further and refer to it as you complete this application document.

Option 1 Applicants - Sending your completed form in to us.

Once you feel you have completed the form send it in to us – don’t wait until it is “perfect” as one man’s average is another man’s brilliance. This information is only for us and if we feel we need more information we will simply come back to you and ask.

We will assess your application and when approved we will launch your business on GreenTravel.ie and provide you with a certificate, logo for use and a window sticker.

Option 2 Applicants – Your consultant will work with you to complete the application

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Application for the Eco-Friendly Business GREENMark

Please give your applicable responses within the box under each section and if you are using any other document, tool, template to record your actions tell us in the box what

document you are using. (As this is a word document the sections will expand as you type into them)

Sing our GREENMark Eco-Friendly Business Charter. This is committing your business to being operated in a sustainable and responsible manner.

Responsible/Sustainable/Environmental Plan. Businesses that are serious about sustainability will have a vision or plan that they can communicate to various stakeholders. Tell us what your Vision/Plan is. (This does not have to be a lengthy response – it should tell us what you are planning to do this year/next year and should clearly communicate your Vision and Approach to embedding sustainability) Tell us here what your plan is and where a visitor to your business will find this plan.

Website Communication. Visitors to the GreenTravel.ie website want to find out what your business is doing that is responsible & sustainable. Having a Responsible or “Green” page within your website will allow them to quickly assess what you are doing and is a vital step for any business that wishes to be recognised for their environmental actions. We will insert a link to this page from your GreenTravel.ie listing. It can also communicate important information to visitors before they arrive and after they arrive. Please provide an URL or “Hotlink” to your businesses “Green” webpage here.

Communicating with your Guests/Visitors. Tell us how you communicate your environmental practices with guests/visitors when they are on your site/service. How do you encourage them to be “green” as well. Tell us here.

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Environmental Regulations and Legislation. Tell us if your local authority, or other state agency, has asked you to make changes to your operation to be compliant with specific local or national environmental regulations and how you have implemented those changes. (Yes/No – if Yes tell us what you have done)

Consumption Information. Every business needs to know how much they are spending/consuming on Energy, Water, Waste Disposal and Food Waste (where applicable). How often do you measure your Energy, Water and Waste costs/consumptions?EnergyWaterWaste

Energy Management. What steps have you taken to more energy efficient and what are you planning? (Where applicable) Tell us what you do.

Lighting. Are at least 75% of your light bulbs LED, CFL or T5/T8 Fluorescent? Tell us – Yes or No

Waste management. What steps have you taken to minimise waste and what are you planning?

Recycling – Tell us what steps you are taking to manage your recycling. Recyclables – Separate or Mixed (Cardboard, Paper, Plastic, Metal, Glass), Food Waste, Residual Waste, Hazardous Waste. Tell us what you do and what waste streams you separate.

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Single Use Plastics (SUP): Has eliminated, or has a plan to eliminate, consumer facing single use plastics from use. Tell us what you have done and are planning

Water management. What steps have you taken to be more water efficient and what are you planning? Tell us what you do.

Waste Water Treatment. Tell us how you treat waste water from your property – On-Site system or to the local main sewer? If On-Site tell us how you check that the system works. Tell us what you do

Staff Training/Awareness. What steps have you taken to train or create awareness within your staff to support/implement your responsible actions? Tell us what you do.

Green Purchasing. Have you taken any steps to support local producers – food, drink, services, etc.? Do you have a “Buy Irish” policy and look to source products of Irish Provenance. Tell us what you do.

Code of Practice. If there is a Responsible/Environmental code of practice applicable to your activity you should be implementing it. If Applicable tell us what it is and if you are applying it.

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Leave no Trace. Outdoor activity providers must promote the Leave no Trace philosophy. All businesses should promote the Leave no Trace principles. Tell us how you do this and tell us if you are a member of Leave no Trace

Local Community. Tell us if/how you engage with your local community to promote and support sustainability locally. (Tidy towns, Clean Coast, Green Schools, etc…) Tell us here

Biodiversity. Tell us if your business specifically impacts on local biodiversity and how you are minimising this impact and any other activities you engage in that preserves or protects local biodiversity.

Green Tree Questionnaire. Have completed the online questionnaire and reported the result to GreenTravel.ie as part of your annual report.

Marketing Information. Complete the Marketing Information sheet provided so that we can enter your details within GreenTravel.ieHave you completed the Marketing Information questionnaire and sent it back to us?

Green Check Questionnaire. Complete this and return it as part of your application

Have you completed the Green Check Questionnaire and sent it back to us?

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Any other information. If you have any other information that you feel will enhance your application please tell us here – you can include copies of any document within your application. Summarise it here.

Further Support

If you have any queries please email info@greentravel.ie with them and we will revert to you as soon as possible.

Documents noted within the criteria can be found on our website here…..

Making a GREENMark Eco-Friendly Application – Documentation/Information required

You can use the boxes in the Application Form to tell us how you have implemented each standard. We also provide some templates that you could use. If you are using them tell us that you are.

If possible, we recommend you store all the completed documents and information on a PC or in a folder so you have easy access to it.

When sending us your Application for a GREENMark the following must be included;

- Completed Application Form- Completed GREENMark Eco-Friendly Green Check Questionnaire- Completed Marketing Information Sheet – if not already provided- GreenBusiness.ie SME Questionnaire Score- Environmental Consumption Data (Tracker if used)- Any other documentation you wish to include as part of your application

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