As part of our commitment sustainable tourism we set out to improve our waste-management. As an incentive we entered the “Waste Not Awards” in 2017. This is not the sort of award where you dress up in black-tie for an expensive dinner. Neither do the media jostle to get your photo. But rather it is a quiet morning tea of scones with school children and local council staff in the back room at the Council Chambers. Never-the-less we believe it is an important award and we are proud of our achievement. Following is the article we released to the media.
2700 Kg of Waste Diverted from Land-Fill
LAUNCESTON, TASMANIA SEPTEMBER 26th 2017 (media release)—Tin Dragon Trail Cottages was awarded one of the Waste NoT (SME) awards for promoting sustainable tourism.
“We estimate our few simple changes have kept 2,712 kg of waste from land-fill this year”, stated Graham Cashion, co-owner of Tin Dragon Trail Cottages, “This may not be the poshest of awards, but we are proud of our efforts”.
Christine Booth went on to say, “By embedding sustainability concerns into our brand we are not only creating differentiation we are promoting sustainable tourism in our region.”
Graham and Christine have achieved this by encouraging guests to compost and recycle. They also encourage guests use re-usable coffee cups and water bottles, by provided these for guests to borrow. Provision of hand-made soaps and shampoo bars (all unpackaged) and compostable starch-based bags, minimises waste even further. Educational material outlining these small changes is available for guests.
We use more recycle bins than general-waste bins 
Flexible plastics are taken to the recycling center in Launceston 
Recycle bins are provided in all cottages
We were surprised at how much less land-fill rubbish we generated at home, too.
Before the recyclable items are removed 
Same bin after removing recyclable waste
Awards Hosted by The Northern Waste Management Group Recognises Sustainable Tourism
The Northern Tasmanian Waste Management Group hosts the annual The Waste NoT Awards to recognise excellence in waste management and recycling in the north of Tasmania. In 2017 the awards had 17 nominations, with eight nominees awarded. Other awardees included SME (Small to Medium Enterprise) award to Earthy Eats and Zion Gardens; Individual awards to Delta Witt (Launceston Church Grammar pupil. Grade 5) and Dick and Maggie James; School awards to Glen Dhu Primary School Class 3-4 Jack, Glen Dhu Children services and Riverside High School; and Community Group award to Community Enterprises Australia Pty Ltd.
Tin Dragon Cottages receives their award 
Award Recipients
Awardees received beautifully hand-crafted trophies made by artist Michael Thomson from recycled timber from the Egg Island Bridge, aluminum window fittings and glass bottles
So How is it Going Now?
Graham says, “Some of our guests get it; some aren’t too bad and some don’t care at all! We have certainly made a lot more work for ourselves because we often have to sort through the rubbish. We now have far-more recycle than general wheelie bins on site”
But overall we think the effort is worth it.
