Qualmark gold for Dolphin Encounter

Encounter Kaikoura has become the third Kaikoura business to be awarded Qualmark's prestigious Enviro-Gold certification.

The dolphin swimming company has been Green Globe certified since 2005 and undertook a rigorous assessment process this year to achieve the new Qualmark status, of which it is incredibly proud.

The company was already heading in the right direction with monthly monitoring and environmental awareness already in place, and received an impressive 93 per cent as a Qualmark visitor activity back in May.

It was due to this assessment as a visitor-endorsed activity that it was able to apply for the Enviro-Gold accreditation.

Although working towards this next step was a lot of work, Alex Thompson, in charge of business development within the company, said much of what was required fell into what the business aspired to achieve anyway, and much of it also worked in with the green globe practices already in place.

The assessment covers all aspects of the running of the business, from electricity and fuel consumption to the administrative side of things covering the use of paper and recycling efforts.

It also takes into account the community impact of the business, and the number of staff locally employed.

Initiatives needed to be outlined for all areas such as plans to reduce chemical use and electricity, and examples of this include Encounter Kaikoura's new wetsuit washing machine, a converted drying room which uses fans in place of electric heating, and chemical dispensers which ensure no wastage or overuse of chemicals.

Also on the initiatives list was the use of biodegradable coffee cups in the cafe.

Encounter Kaikoura's waste to landfill is now down to less than one tonne per year, another point it is particularly pleased to have achieved.

One of the challenges for the company was that there was not much scope to reduce fuel consumption, as the boats already ran to a set of strict guidelines regarding optimum speeds and it very much depended where the dolphins were as to how far a boat had to travel.

However, overall it was able to provide action plans and monitoring documentation, along with photographic evidence, that enabled it to fit the criteria of the gold award.

Mr Thompson said the award was particularly significant in light of the fact that Kaikoura itself endeavoured to stand out as a leader in good environmental and sustainable practices.

The fact that there are now three businesses in town with the gold award, as well as a significant number of other businesses with other graded Qualmark Enviro awards, was a fantastic achievement of which the town could be very proud.

- © Fairfax NZ News

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