Awareness of the damage caused to the environment by pollution is top of the agenda at Ballygarry House Hotel in Tralee. What started with small efforts to reduce waste with the introduction of paperless checkouts and refillable soap dispensers quickly led to the formation of a dedicated ‘Green Team’ under the direction of Deputy General Manager, Tadhg McGillicuddy with representatives from every department within the hotel. This ongoing project has led to best practices and savings for the family-run hotel.
“We believe in having good recycling procedures in place to minimise our carbon footprint” said Tadhg McGillicuddy. “Balllygarry House Hotel is a very busy four-star hotel and generates a lot of waste. We noticed that by simply monitoring our waste, it enables us to see where and how we can do better. This, in turn, has allowed us to reduce waste going to landfill and the costs associated with it. Another benefit is that the project is staff led in the sense that many of the proposals for improving our systems have come from individual staff members across all departments”, he added.

Some of the Initiatives to date include:
Suppliers to Ballygarry take back all packaging when deliveries are made to the hotel

All plastic waste generated in the hotel is collected by Abbey Moulding, a specific plastic moulding company that recycles plastic
All cardboard waste is compacted on site and collected for recycling
Glass bottles are crushed on site into a sand texture which can be spread and worked into the soil of the gardens at Ballygarry House Hotel.
All used teabags and coffee grinds are composted into a herb and vegetable garden at Ballygarry. This garden supplies herbs, salads and vegetables to the hotel kitchens for The Brasserie, the fine-dining Restaurant 58 and the Manhattan Restaurant.
All single use straws as well as take-away tea and coffee cups, sourced from Down2Earth in Cork, are fully compostable and can be added to the brown compost bin.• Bicycles are available for guests who want to visit the local areas including the 16th Century Ballyseedy Woods just minutes from the hotel
Ballygarry House Hotel is one of the first hotels in Tralee to install a charging point for Telsa and Electric Cars contributing to sustainable transport.“
Picture Caption: (Left to Right) Brid McCarthy – Restaurant Manager, Tadhg McGillicuddy – Deputy General Manager. John O’Sullivan – Head Chef and
Craig Lynch Sous Chef