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Greener Boating

Our New Environmental Policy

The Broads is one of Britian’s most magical places – a uniquely-beautiful environment, shaped by people working hand-in-hand with nature over thousands of years. It is a fragile wetland of international importance, full of rare wildlife. With winding waterways, tangled woodlands, golden reeds, and marshland fields stretching to the far horizon, it will always be a hugely-popular holiday destination.

All of us at Richardson’s are proud of our heritage and feel privileged to live and work in The Norfolk Broads. Therefore, we are committed to reducing the impact of our activities on this environment to help sustain it for generations to come.

As part of this commitment we have joined the Green Tourism Business Scheme, which is the national sustainable tourism certification scheme for the UK.

As part of our Environmental Commitment we aim to:

Continually improve our environmental performance in all of our activities, products and services
Show recognition of compliance with relevant environmental legislation as a minimum level of performance
Commit to raising the awareness of our team members with regard to green issues and ensure they know their role in this achievement
To review and monitor all our activities, products and services at least annually to quantify and evaluate their environmental impact

What we are doing?

Reduce, Reuse and Recycle:

We reuse single-sided paper within the office as scrap pads
We reuse old linen and towels as rags for use in the workshops
We have community recycling facilities for customers and team members on-site, for glass (clear and coloured), paper and cardboard
Waste metal is collected, and old engines and parts are disposed of at the North Walsham Recycling Centre
Used engine oil, filters and rags are collected on a regular basis by a registered waste oil company
Our promotional material is available online from our website. If our customers would prefer a printed copy, all our brochures and leaflets are produced on sustainable paper from renewable forests
We only print hard copies on paper when necessary
Printer cartridges and toners from business use on-site are donated to the local “Scope” charity shop for them to recycle and earn money

Energy:

We are now monitoring all our electricity usage and are endeavouring to reduce our consumption by:

Replacing all electric bulbs with a low energy alternative
Replacing all of our old radiatiors with modern digital electric radiators (made by Rointe) which use 40% of the power our old systems used
We have fitted solar panels on the roof of the black hanger
The black hanger has been insulated by replacing the walls with Kingspan thermal panels
All immersion heaters are set to operate from 60 – 62°c

Water:

We monitor the flow of the showers in our customer toilet block, and we have installed push taps on our basins to reduce water usage
The toilets are also fitted with low flush cisterns to reduce water usage
The soap that we use is phosphate-free and fitted in a dispenser

Cleaning products and toiletries:

In our laundry we use phosphate-free washing powder
Our cleaning products are all phosphate free

Green Tourism Silver Award

We’re absolutely delighted to announce that we’ve recently joined the Green Tourism Business Scheme – and we’ve been given a Silver Award in recognition of our efforts.

Our boating holidays are a great way to explore the beauty of the Broads, but increasing numbers of visitors mean we need to promote sustainable tourism. This approach will ensure that the delicate ecosystem making up our surroundings can cope with increased demand – as well as making sure that future generations can also enjoy the Broads.

With this in mind, we joined the Green Tourism Business Scheme to reduce our environmental impact. We won our Silver Award for implementing the following systems, which reduce our energy consumption:

Replacing existing lighting with low energy lighting
Fitting solar panels to our main hanger and to several of our new-build boats
Assessing our water consumption, and introducing several measures to reduce our waste
Switching to environmentally friendly-cleaning products; chemicals found in household cleaners cause increased growth of weeds and algae, and can seriously harm animal and plant life. If you too could use ‘nature-friendly’ cleaning products when holidaying with us, that will help our cause

Our Commitment to the Environment

For many years now Richardson’s has provided boating holidays which enable visitors to explore and enjoy the stunning Broads environment, an area that we are immensely proud of.

With large numbers of people visiting The Broads each year we need to promote sustainable tourism to ensure that we protect this special environment so that everybody can enjoy the area now and in the future and so that the unique wildlife will continue to thrive.

We are members of the Green Tourism Business Scheme and are undertaking a programme of measures to reduce our environmental impact. We are reducing our energy consumption through measures such as replacing lighting with low energy lighting and investing in solar power on boats. We are managing our water consumption and introducing numerous measures to reduce waste. Throughout the company we are switching to environmentally-friendly cleaning products, particularly on our boats, as we wish to discourage any products (such as cleaners and washing-up liquid) from reaching the water environment. Phosphates found in household cleaners cause growth of weeds and algae which reduce oxygen in the water. Chlorine causes serious damage to animals and plant life.

Please join us in looking after our environment.

Conservation on the Broads

The whole area is looked after by the Broads Authority which keeps the waterways open and safe for navigation. As well as acting as the planning authority for the area, the Broads Authority ensures that the natural wildlife and habitat is conserved.

There are a number of important nature reserves situated in the Norfolk Broads and a trip through these are a must for interested visitors.

Details of nature reserves on the Broads can be found on the Norfolk Wildlife Trust website.