Mermaid Quay, the restaurant, café and shopping area in the heart of Cardiff Bay, has won two Green Apple Awards in the national campaign to find the greenest individuals, companies, councils, places and communities.
Competing against more than 500 other nominations in the International Green Apple Awards, Mermaid Quay will be presented with their trophies and certificates at a glittering presentation ceremony in the Houses of Parliament, London, on November 21.
The Green Apple Awards have been achieved through their Waste Not, Want Not and Rooftop Garden Initiatives.
As a result of this International Green Apple Award success, Mermaid Quay has been invited to accept Green World Ambassador status and have their winning papers published in The Green Book (the leading international work of reference on environmental best practice) so that others around the world can follow their lead and learn from their achievement.
This will also entitle them to represent their country in the Green World Environment Awards that are held in a different country every year.
ABOUT WASTE NOT WANT NOT
Mermaid Quay have donated a substantial amount of equipment and materials to various community groups over the past year. This has ensured the lifespan of donations has been extended before final disposal.
Communities have benefited by repurposing/renewing/reselling and enjoying the donations. This has not only cleared much needed space in Mermaid Quay’s storage rooms but has improved lives of those in the local community.
ETO ETO
These donations have included old poster and banner materials made from weatherproofed PVC to Eto Eto at the Sustainable Studio. Eto Eto translates to ‘again and again’ in Welsh and the ethos behind the business is to divert waste from landfill through fashioning bags and accessories from waste products.
ITVET Donation
The donation of IT equipment through ITVET the Mermaid Quay site IT contractor. Helping disadvantaged children by supporting their education and helping to break down the barriers of digital exclusion.
The donation was made to ITVET’s Laptop for Schools initiative to be refurbished and distributed to schools and community organisations. The IT support and technology company has been running Laptops for Schools since the first COVID-19 lockdowns to tackle digital exclusion in education while supporting a circular economy.
Boomerang
When stores and restaurants sadly close, it can lead to equipment and furniture being abandoned in vacant units and the team at Mermaid Quay querying how to put this furnishing to good use. Luckily the team was put in contact with local charity, Boomerang Cardiff to made use of the surplus furniture.
The charity was founded by Paul Gwilym to help the homeless community and tackle poverty. The charity has many projects it champions, from its own reused furniture store to a community indoor training facility.
The kitchen equipment and restaurant furniture collected by Boomerang has made an impact to helping our local community and raise funds for those in need who have fallen on hard times.
Planter donation to Mount Stuart Primary School
Working with our landscaping contractors Mitie, we were able to donate our unused planters on site to Mount Stuart Primary school. Mermaid Quay is proud to have a close relationship with Mount Stuart, and the opportunity to donate and reuse the study planters to transform the school playground was not to be missed.
ABOUT THE ROOFTOP GARDEN
The rooftop garden has been carefully crafted by our on-site Maintenance Technician and has been growing a wide variety of fruit, vegetables, and herbs. It has been created using wooden pallets left over from our recent public realm refurbishment works, plastic waste gathered from water litter picks and on-site waste management, old roof netting, wooden street planter troughs and old tenant flowerpots.
It is important that the rooftop garden is created and maintained from site reclamation, promoting sustainability and the re-use of materials that would otherwise go to landfill.
The pallet garden will also provide a bee and bug friendly environment which we hope will help to boost biodiversity in our local area.
ABOUT THE GREEN APPLE AWARDS
The Green Apple Awards are run by The Green Organisation – an international, independent, non-profit, non-political environment group that began in 1994 to recognise, reward and promote environmental best practice around the world.
www.thegreenorganisation.info
If you know a company or organisation that deserves recognition for its environmental efforts, you can nominate them for an International Green Apple Award at www.thegreenorganisation.info/awards