Green Stuff

Humankind is an awesome thing. However, we have put immense pressure on our planet's resources and have not always treated our world as kindly as we should.

"We love our community and we love the world we live in and we want to do what we can to minimise the impact we have on our environment."

At Cohort Hostel we recognise the effect of our business on the environment and our planet and are committed to minimising this impact.

Heritage is important to us too. As part of our redevelopment of our hostel we have ensured that our responsibility to the environment has been designed into the refurbishment work, whilst at the same time maintaining our responsibilities to our beautiful Grade II listed building.

In particular, we will achieve our green goals through our commitment to:

• • Comply with and, where possible, exceed all relevant legislation and regulations
  • Regularly review the environmental impact of our hostel activity
  • Involve staff and volunteers in achieving our environmental goals
  • Monitor and improve our energy efficiency usage of water, gas and electricity.

• Communicate and promote our green policy goals to hostel guests and encourage them to also consider their environmental impact

Green Tourism award – Gold

Our gold membership of the Green Tourism Award is a reflection of our commitment to the environment and our Green Policies.

Carbon Offsetting Scheme

When you book direct with us you can offset your carbon footprint by donating £0.99 to plant a fruit tree in the developing world. Add ‘Plant a Tree’ to your booking after check out and pay on arrival.

For each 99p donated by you the Green Earth Appeal on behalf of Cohort Hostel agree to plant the minimum of one tree in the developing world along with the provision of tools, education and infrastructure.

Our tree counter…

Energy consumption at Cohort

Our electricity comes from 100% renewable sources and we do everything in house to ensure we use as little as possible…

Lights

• Motion sensors and timing meters control 99% the of the lights throughout our public areas/spaces
• 98% of our lights run on LED (give us a little more time and it will be 100%)

We have reduced our light energy consumption by up to 80% using these methods over traditional lighting systems.

Water

We have fitted water saving devices in all of our shower / toilet blocks and dorm rooms

• Our showers are fitted with self closing buttons which saves up to 80% of water compared to conventional shower systems; this also reduces our energy consumption
• Self-closing taps are fitted in all of our public sinks and bedroom sinks (except kitchen sinks)
• Our toilets have been replaced with dual flush cisterns saving up to 25% water against standard toilets

Heating

• We have fitted thermostatic radiator values on the majority of our radiators (22 out of 26)
• Replaced both of our heating boilers with efficiency A grade boilers
• Fitted two brand new hot water cylinders which are super efficient

Energy monitoring

We had an efficiency survey conducted and an OWL energy monitoring system installed which tracks our electricity usage. It produces data which will enable us to better control and reduce energy consumption going forward, providing us with tangible evidence of our efforts.

Recycling at Cohort

• We provide recycling facilities throughout the building
• We use separate bins to recycle paper, cardboard, tin, aluminium, glass and plastic

Help us by using the appropriate bin for your rubbish.

Drying facilities at Cohort

Instead of providing energy intensive tumble drying facilities we provide:

• Plenty of clothes drying hanging space in the hostel courtyard
• A well insulated drying room which is controlled via a thermostat and humidistat for optimum drying conditions

Environmentally conscious suppliers & products

Linen

Our linen company South West Laundry works with the Carbon Trust and are committed to minimising their carbon impact on the environment.

Cleaning products

The only cleaning products you will see us use, from washing up liquid and hand wash through to shower cleaners, drain disinfectants and sanitisers, are all Bio-cleaning products; a range of natural, biodegradable cleaning products which are not harmful to the environment or our staff!

We make our own glass cleaner from white vinegar, tea tree oil and water.

(The only harmful cleaning product you may see is the occasional use of drain unblock-er!)

Toilet paper

We use recycled toilet paper throughout the hostel.

Printing

We only use recycled and recyclable printer toner cartridges and our printer’s default is for double sided printing – saving paper: Not that we print much as our entire booking system is paperless and we will only provide you with a printed invoice / receipt if you ask for one.

Cohort: Green projects in the pipeline

We keep a constant eye out for ways in which we can improve and reduce our environmental impact. Tell us your ideas! They are all welcome, meanwhile we intend to:

• Replace the remaining of our non-LED lights, with LED replacements
• Increase awareness of what we do to our guests and encourage all visiting humans to the hostel to do the same
• We aim to develop the use of our recently installed energy monitoring system implementing a strategy so we can identify areas where we can improve energy efficiency and further reduce our carbon footprint
• We will focus our time on promoting our Cohort Carbon offsetting initiative

Responsible tourism in St Ives

Finally, we encourage all our guests and visitors to Cornwall to be responsible travellers. For details of what that means click to read our Responsible Visitor Charter and download the Countryside Code.

Skip the Plastic Campaign

Our mission, which started in 2018, is to reduce our plastic footprint.

Click the image to see what we’ve been up to…