Our Green Story: Glenuig Inn

Glenuig Inn, located amidst stunning scenery on the Sound of Arisaig, was renovated 12 years ago with sustainability at its heart and the vision to prove it was possible to run a leisure and tourism business efficiently and profitably with minimal environmental footprint. Since then, every decision taken has had to have both environmental and financial benefits.

As a multi award winning sustainable business, and Scotland’s exemplar green Inn, its success is attributed to adopting a holistic approach to environmental sustainability which includes celebrating 5 years of using 100% renewable energy, zero food waste leaving site, and over 98.5% reduction in waste to landfill.

Whilst food waste and food security are currently high on everyone’s agenda, Glenuig Inn adopted a principle of reducing both food waste and ‘wasted food’ over 5 years ago by developing excellent portion control and a menu with inherently minimal waste. Any food waste is dried and sterilised before being added to the biomass fuel mix to provide heating and hot water. The circular approach to food waste and energy efficiency is completed as the ash from the biomass boiler is used as organic fertiliser.

The approach to waste comes from the assumption that ‘anything wasted is a cost to the business’, therefore the ultimate goal is to eliminate waste. The result has been that waste to landfill has been reduced to less than half a domestic wheelie bin per fortnight, plus a similar amount for dry recyclate.

By focusing on waste elimination, rather than reuse and recycling, the supplier engagement initiative, ‘Packaging Take Back’ was developed to effectively eliminate most packaging waste from site.

“We believe that a holistic approach to creating a sustainable business is the only way to achieve real success both for the environment and the overall profitability. This has certainly also held true this year during the COVID - 19 pandemic when our approach to waste and cost reductions have really come into their own. Whilst making the right choices for a sustainable future is hard work, the financial benefits far outweigh the costs.”  Steve Macfarlane  Glenuig Inn