Bush Oasis Caravan Park - ecoBiz case study
Find out how our ecoBiz Star Partner Bush Oasis Caravan Park (an accommodation provider near Townsville) reduced their waste, energy and water use.
The free ecoBiz program has assessed the waste, water and energy practices in hundreds of businesses in Queensland and developed case studies to help businesses improve their operations and save money through sustainability.
Bush Oasis Caravan Park is a lifestyle residential and tourist park located approximately 15 minutes north of Townsville. They offer varying types of accommodation, from unpowered grass sites to deluxe eco glamping tents and cabins.
The award-winning, privately owned and managed caravan park aims to inspire sustainable environmental tourism. The Park has been involved with ecoBiz since 2018 and became an ecoBiz 3-Star Partner in recognition of the sustainable water, waste and energy practices implemented to run the park operations.
"Having support from ecoBiz has been instrumental to our business. We started small and expanded our initiatives over time thanks to the amazing ecoBiz consultant. We're now a 3 Star Partner, self-sufficient in water and waste and savings in electricity of over $3-4k per month. With savings like that, "what's not to love"? It's not just your customers that will be happier. You, your business and the environment will be too!" Fiona Lidgett, Manager and Owner
KEY INITIATIVES TO REDUCE ENERGY USE
The Park reduced its energy use by 57% in two months when the owners installed solar panels in late 2019.
- The emergency battery storage allows them to reduce night-time energy consumption and works as an emergency backup for communications and lighting if there is a blackout.
- Staff use a small electric maintenance vehicle which has reduced fuel use and carbon emissions compared to using a car.
- They use glow in the dark walkways to reduce lighting and impacts on wildlife.
- Their new glamping sites have innovative tropical design features to reduce heat (e.g. orientation, reflective white roofs, raised airflow systems in the roof, raised floors for airflow, western wall shading and exposure minimisation, high insulation property fiberglass panels…).
KEY INITIATIVES TO REDUCE WATER USE
Bush Oasis Caravan Park operates at a high level of water efficiency. They are off-grid to mains water and only use rain and bore water, no potable water. Purification of the water is done through reverse osmosis.
They recycle all their wastewater and have water-efficient landscaping and fixtures.
KEY INITIATIVES TO REDUCE WASTE
Bush Oasis Caravan Park has measures in place to limit the amount of waste the park and its visitors send to landfill:
- Grass clippings are mulch mown on-site;
- A green procurement policy supports purchasing with minimal waste;
- A basketball net attracts guests' attention to recycling their containers;
- They have achieved next to no contamination in their container deposit scheme;
- The Park has set up an area to collect items to be reused and repurposed where possible.
ARE YOU INTERESTED IN SAVING MONEY THROUGH SUSTAINABILITY?
The ecoBiz Guide to reducing energy, water and waste for accommodation providers provides industry-specific insights and resources, including our regional experts' most common recommendations to accommodation providers to help them reduce their costs.
ecoBiz is a free program funded by the Queensland Government and run by the Chamber of Commerce & Industry Queensland (CCIQ) that helps Queensland businesses audit their resource use and reduce costs from waste, water, and energy bills. After a free two-hour coaching session with a sustainability expert, businesses receive a written report with practical and tangible solutions, which are often no or low cost to implement.