The Bluestone Brewing Company have been recognised for their sustainability efforts as their visitor centre becomes the first in the world to achieve the Green Key award. The family run micro-brewery at Tyriet Farm, just outside of Newport in Pembrokeshire, was built in renovated farm buildings that are over 300 years old.
What first attracted you to Green Key?
Although there are lots of accreditations and awards for brewing and beer, we wanted something that would show our customers more about our sustainable efforts. It’s easy for any business to call themselves eco-friendly but we thought that it was important to gain an accreditation that properly tested us and considered every aspect of our business. Having the Green Key accreditation shows our customers and other businesses that we are serious about what we do.
Tell us about any changes that you have made to meet the Green Key criteria?
We now think a lot more carefully about the products that we buy in from elsewhere. Previously, we would buy hand soap for the toilets from the local supermarket and not pay too much attention to the type that we were buying, but now we make sure that we source an eco-friendly product from a sustainable source. The same goes for any flyers, posters etc – we spend a lot more time shopping around now to make sure that anything we are purchasing is from a responsible place.
What do you consider to be the benefits of having become Green Key accredited?
We now have something that sets us apart from other businesses and it’s something to hold ourselves accountable for. Having Green key means that we regularly question our decisions and check them against the Green Key criteria, it means more than just calling ourselves a “Green Business”, we are actually audited against it and so it keeps us on track.
How do you incorporate the education element of the award into your business?
We have a whole page on our website dedicated to sustainability and promote Green Key regularly across our social media. We have information and posters available for customers to read in our visitor centre too.
What have you found the most challenging aspect of the award?
Record keeping! As a small business we are always very busy and so remembering to take meter readings etc is always a challenge!
We are very proud to be part of the Green Key family, as a business it has helped us to stand out from the crowd but also to continue to strive to be better in terms of sustainability. Emily Hutchinson, Bluestone Brewing Company
Emily Hutchinson, Bluestone Brewing Company
