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How green is your Club?


I reckon camping is one of the greenest ways of enjoying a holiday in the UK by far.
Club Sites and Camping in the Forest sites work hard to minimise their impact on their surrounding environment and wildlife. Take Loch Ness Shores Club Site – it uses geo-thermal, solar thermal and electricity provided by hydro-power to heat and light its facilities.

Loch Ness Shores Club Site
Compared with the energy and resources it takes to run a hotel or holiday cottage, tent campers, caravanners and motorhomers tend to use electric, gas and water sparingly while out in the field.
And a family driving – even towing – to a campsite in a modern, fuel-efficient car generates fewer greenhouse gas emissions than flying.

For more than 100 years, since 1901, it’s been the Club’s mission to help people enjoy the simple pleasures that camping can bring, and cause no unnecessary harm to the environment while doing so.
This extends from our campsites to our Club Headquarters and to producing the Club’s monthly magazine.

Our paper is supplied by a Finnish forest industry company who pride themselves on minimising waste and maximising reuse, using biofuels and bioenergy, and sustainably managing its forests. Our printer, Wyndeham Roche, is committed to environmental standards, recycling waste paper and using emissions from its presses to power other parts of its factory.
Finnish forest

Also, beginning with our September issue, we switched to a compostable potato-starch based wrap for mailing out our monthly Club magazine.

It can be disposed of with food waste, garden compost and in some council green bins. It could take up to a year to degrade in a normal home compost heap. If it’s binned and goes to landfill it will break down in time, but may take longer than 12 months. It shouldn’t go in a plastic recycling bin – it’s biodegradable.

The wrap meets European Standards for packaging to be processed by industrial composting (EN 13432). Unfortunately, the UK doesn’t have a one-size-fits-all waste management system. Some local councils may say it can’t be disposed of in a green waste garden bin or food scrap collections. So our magazine wrap supplier is talking to councils and recycling organisations regarding these bio films, and we’d urge anyone experiencing recycling difficulties to lobby their local council to make changes or to adapt their home recycling.

Also, don’t forget we launched our revolutionary Digital Membership back in 2014. So members can opt out of receiving all print products and read their Club magazine at our website or by downloading our magazine app - enjoying our content digitally, just as you’re doing right now.

What efforts do you make to reduce your carbon footprint and environmental impact when you’re on holiday? Let me know, I’d love to hear from you.
 


Rob Ganley Rob is the Club’s Editor-in-Chief. A former group editor of Practical Caravan and Practical Motorhome magazines, he joined The Camping and Caravanning Club in 2014. Rob has been lucky enough to explore the world on fly-drive motorhome holidays, including US Route 66 in an RV, and New Zealand in a campervan. More recently he tours with his wife and children, 12 & 9, and together they’ve camped in France, Italy and Spain in caravans and motorhomes. Read other posts by this author