Why sustainability and care for the environment is so important to us
Origin Green
Origin Green certification, run by Bord Bia, is Ireland’s national food and drink sustainability programme. It enables food and drink businesses to achieve measurable sustainability targets that respect the environment and positively serve local communities.
We have been a member of this program for 5 years, improving our sustainability performance each year. We were delighted to be awarded Gold certification in 2023 for achieving the highest standard for our sustainability efforts.
GreenMARK with Visit Cork
As part of Visit Cork’s Sustainable Tourism Strategy, we are working towards achieving the Eco-friendly Business GREENMark certificate. This award by greenhospitality.ie recognises businesses that reduce their carbon footprint while promoting sustainable travel and tourism within their business, community and region.
For us, it also means educating our meadery visitors and community on our sustainability actions, biodiversity loss, authentic honey and sustainable tourism actions aligned to the Leave No Trace principles for visitors.
All-Ireland Pollinator Plan
The All-Ireland Pollinator Plan coordinated by the National Biodiversity Data Centre aimed at creating an environment where businesses, communities, schools, farmers and gardeners can take actions where Ireland’s pollinators can thrive and survive.
Right now, biodiversity loss in Ireland is at a critical stage with the Government declaring a Biodiversity Emergency in 2019. One third of wild bees in Ireland are close to extinction and almost half of our wildlife habitats are in decline.
We are working to educate our meadery visitors on the seriousness of biodiversity loss, its impact on bees and what we can collectively do through supporting pollinator friendly actions – No Mow May, reducing pesticide use, encouraging wild pollinator growth and supporting community initiatives.
Recycling, Upcycling & Composting
We recycle all our wooden pallets and metal honey barrels to people in the local community who have been very creative making furniture, garden sheds and compost bins. We add some of our cardboard waste mixed with green waste into our compost bins for use in our garden. We use left over fruit for composting.
We have turned some of our empty labelled glass bottles into beautiful light fittings for use in the meadery, a project done in collaboration with Kopper Kreation.
We return all our empty bottles from festivals to the meadery for cleaning and re-use as well as using compostable cups from Down2Earth Materials.
Community Engagement
We use local suppliers and craftspeople – the stunning artwork in the meadery is from Fiona Boniwell. Our stunning oak bar is from Carrignavar Timber products in Cork. Our limited-edition Wildflower honey comes from Paul Kelly’s apiary in West Cork. All our brochures and posters are from Rhino Print in Kinsale.
We are delighted to support local initiatives and events in Kinsale each year to show off the town including Kinsale Street Festival, Kinsale Gourmet Food Festival and Kinsale Voices choral group events.
Biodiversity & Bees
We planted a small wildflower pollinator area beside the meadery with the help of a student from Kinsale college. We get a variety of bumble bees and wild bees visiting and it is a way of showing our meadery visitors what is possible in a small space.
We have a honey tasting and bee education section on our tour – once people taste real honey, we can have the conversation as to why we have so little honey in Ireland (only 6% is Irish) and why it is so important to support your local beekeepers.
Many beekeepers from around the world visit us, sharing their experiences with us. There are very few places where bees are not under pressure and beekeepers are struggling to have a sustainable business due to cheap adulterated honeys and bee colony losses due to disease, habitat loss, pesticides and volatile weather. We share their stories with our visitors.
Energy & Water
We have reduced our energy footprint to that of two 4-bedroom houses (~10K kwh) through a range of energy efficient actions in our mead making process and building use including installing energy efficient lighting and temperature-controlled heating.
Our water usage is also very low benefiting hugely by our use of our Ozone system for sanitation and low temperature process.