Ladybird Farm: making tourism profitable and sustainable
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Environment Ladybird Farm: making tourism profitable and sustainable Europe’s tourism industry is growing rapidly with ever more people having the chance to travel, leading to a bigger impact on the environment. Established to promote lifestyles that are in harmony with nature, the Ladybird Farm leisure centre in Hungary aims to mitigate this by reducing visitors’ environmental footprint. Over the past 10 years it has developed a wide ranging sustainability concept and now attracts 65 000 people a year. For owner, János Handó, ‘My daughter’s future is of the utmost importance to what I do and a prerequisite for this is the envi- ronment. I spent some time understanding what we do with our planet and the outlook is not great. This led us to decide that whatever we develop in our leisure centre must be in line with sustainability.’ Ladybird Farm only develops services that either do not consume energy or that can be powered through renewable sources. ‘Also, our supply chain is very lean. We use as few suppliers as possible, use rainwater extensively, have our own ecological sewage treatment plant and reuse selectively collected waste,’ Mr Handó adds. This philosophy extends to sales at the farm, where there is no place for unhealthy food or excess packaging. Instead, Ladybird Farm works with local agricultural and handicraft producers and only sells products made from natural resources in its souvenir shop. Aware of the responsibility of each individual – and business – to preserve the natural environment, Ladybird Farm’s owners and its 15 employees promote sustainability and the circular economy to visitors in a practical and easily understandable way. ‘We built a barn-like building where we explain on 11 bill- boards the concepts of sustainable development, ecological footprint and renewable energy, and what we do for sustaina- bility. We have dozens of displays explaining what one can do for a more liveable future, as well as explanatory displays on our renewable energy production and other ecological instru- ments (…)’ Mr Handó tells us. The idea is that, even if visitors only retain one or two things, their visit will help to spread the concept of sustainability more widely among the public. The farm’s Pay by Waste scheme is another example of promoting the concept of the circular economy. It allows visitors to pay part of their entrance fee in household waste such as plastic, aluminium or paper, giving them a financial incentive to act sustainably and a new idea of waste – that of a product with monetary value. The importance of raising awareness of sustainability is underlined by the farm’s location in Hungary’s South Transdanubia region, where circular economy issues have not always had as high a profile as in other parts of the EU. Although Hungary has made great strides in areas such as household waste recycling, selective waste collection is still not as widely practised as it could be, with Hungary struggling to meet the EU recycling target of 50 % of all household waste by 2020. EUROPEAN BUSINESS AWARDS FOR THE ENVIRONMENT WINNER OF MANAGEMENT AWARD FOR MICRO AND SMALL BUSINESSES
Transcript of Ladybird Farm: making tourism profitable and sustainable
Environment
Ladybird Farm: making tourism profitable and sustainable
Europe’s tourism industry is growing rapidly with ever more people having the chance to travel, leading to a bigger impact on the environment. Established to promote lifestyles that are in harmony with nature, the Ladybird Farm leisure centre in Hungary aims to mitigate this by reducing visitors’ environmental footprint. Over the past 10 years it has developed a wide ranging sustainability concept and now attracts 65 000 people a year.
For owner, János Handó, ‘My daughter’s future is of the utmost importance to what I do and a prerequisite for this is the envi-ronment. I spent some time understanding what we do with our planet and the outlook is not great. This led us to decide that whatever we develop in our leisure centre must be in line with sustainability.’
Ladybird Farm only develops services that either do not consume energy or that can be powered through renewable sources. ‘Also, our supply chain is very lean. We use as few suppliers as possible, use rainwater extensively, have our own ecological sewage treatment plant and reuse selectively collected waste,’ Mr Handó adds.
This philosophy extends to sales at the farm, where there is no place for unhealthy food or excess packaging. Instead, Ladybird Farm works with local agricultural and handicraft producers and only sells products made from natural resources in its souvenir shop.
Aware of the responsibility of each individual – and business – to preserve the natural environment, Ladybird Farm’s owners and its 15 employees promote sustainability and the circular economy to visitors in a practical and easily understandable way.
‘We built a barn-like building where we explain on 11 bill-boards the concepts of sustainable development, ecological footprint and renewable energy, and what we do for sustaina-bility. We have dozens of displays explaining what one can do for a more liveable future, as well as explanatory displays on our renewable energy production and other ecological instru-ments (…)’ Mr Handó tells us. The idea is that, even if visitors only retain one or two things, their visit will help to spread the concept of sustainability more widely among the public.
The farm’s Pay by Waste scheme is another example of promoting the concept of the circular economy. It allows visitors to pay part of their entrance fee in household waste such as plastic, aluminium or paper, giving them a financial incentive to act sustainably and a new idea of waste – that of a product with monetary value.
The importance of raising awareness of sustainability is underlined by the farm’s location in Hungary’s South Transdanubia region, where circular economy issues have not always had as high a profile as in other parts of the EU. Although Hungary has made great strides in areas such as household waste recycling, selective waste collection is still not as widely practised as it could be, with Hungary struggling to meet the EU recycling target of 50 % of all household waste by 2020.
EUROPEAN BUSINESS AWARDS FOR THE ENVIRONMENT
WINNER OF MANAGEMENT AWARD FOR MICRO AND SMALL BUSINESSES
The 2016-17 shortlisted companies for the Management Award for micro and small businesses are:
• Agrotechnical Services SL (Spain) for Vivencia Dehesa:
conservation, improvement and development of dehesa
landscapes, with an economic and environmental approach;
• Ewaste Canarias S.L. (Spain) for Ewaste;
• Jessie Mac’s (United Kingdom) for Jessie Mac’s 10:10:10;
• Ladybird Farm Leisure Center (Hungary) for Tourism in
a sustainable way.
Environmental protection and the circular economy are also stressed in the farm’s staff training, while following sustainable practices and taking steps to improve performance in this area are part of employee evaluations. ‘We employ more and more people each year. All of our employees are ‘green workers’ in my view. Also, if senior decision makers from other companies visit us and learn about our values, this may influence their attitude to green operations,’ says Mr Handó.
To meet its sustainability goals, Ladybird Farm often has to make decisions that balance social and environmental considerations with the need to make a profit. Eliminating popular but unhealthy food and drink means less income, accepting waste as part of the entrance fee means less cash revenue and investing in renewable energy brings lower returns. But for Ladybird Farm success isn’t only measured by profit but also by renewable energy produced, reduc-tions in water consumption and tonnes of waste reused, to say nothing of wider social benefits.
‘If I look at the Pay by Waste policy, it is a net financial loss. If I look at the social value, it is a big gain. For us, social value and financial profit are equally important. We believe that our customers value what we do and how we do it,’ concludes Mr Handó.
For this outlook, Ladybird Farm has received the 2016-17 Manage-ment Award for small and micro businesses at the European Business Awards for the Environment. The jury praised the centre’s promotion of environmentally harmonious lifestyles, low energy attractions and use of renewables, and recognised that by placing social value on an equal footing with profit, Ladybird Farm is an outstanding example of environmental management.
The Management Award
The European Business Awards for the Environment’s Management Award is split into two categories: one for medium and large businesses (50 or more employees), and one for micro and small businesses (fewer than 50 employees). It recognises firms with the vision and the management systems needed to keep improving environmental performance.
For this, the environmental, economic, social and ethical aspects of sustainability must be part of the firm’s mission, with a commit-ment to continually reducing environmental impacts. Also, related monitoring and reporting mechanisms have to be integrated into the business model.
Businesses must make information on their environmental perfor-mance public and involve employees in cutting environmental impacts. Environmental management schemes must be subject to external review.
