Creating a more sustainable site

Publicat el 23 de setembre del 2024

At Pitchup, we recognise the importance of spending time outdoors for our physical and mental well-being, as well as being a vital source of income for rural economies and communities that lay outside tourist hotspots.

However, we’re also aware that our natural landscapes and environments need to be managed carefully so that visitors can continue to enjoy outdoor holidays for generations to come. We’re eager to support all sites using Pitchup on their sustainability journey to help protect our beautiful natural landscapes.

What is a sustainable or environmentally friendly campsite?

Sustainable, environmentally friendly or eco-campsites are those that seek to balance the needs of visitors and the natural environment, making conscious efforts to ensure the presence of visitors does not harm or degrade the environment. This could be by introducing new methods and technologies for protecting the environment, as well as efforts to educate visitors on how to behave and interact with natural environments in a sustainable and responsible way.

Likewise, eco-campers themselves are also aware of the delicate balance between tourism and conservation, and often follow the principles of the ‘Leave No Trace’ approach, aiming to leave a destination or campsite how they found it, or in some way improve the environment during their stay.

Thinking about how to introduce or improve the sustainability of your own site can be a daunting task, and it can be difficult to know where to start. This article intends to demonstrate that starting small, and being consistent, can often be the most impactful approach.

The ‘Agenda for a sustainable and competitive European tourism’ [Commission Communication, 2007] recommends making a plan using the following principles:

Taking a holistic, integrated approach: Consider each area of your site, from staffing to maintenance, plus operations, the products you use or sell and the resources available to you such as time or finances.
Planning for the long term: Sustainability is a journey, so set yourself realistic short, medium and long-term goals to help keep you focused and track your successes.
Adopting an appropriate pace of development: Sites come in all shapes and sizes, with a range of financial and other resources, so make a plan that feels practical and achievable to you and your business.
Involving all stakeholders: Consult with your colleagues, visitors, local communities and nonprofit groups and other relevant parties for their ideas and feedback. You could also consider buddying up with other campsites in your area to share learnings and tips.
Using the best available knowledge: Take the time to do your own research to understand what will work best for the size, location and type of site you have.
Minimising and managing risk: Understand the risks of prioritising sustainability – for example, how investing in new processes or technologies will impact your operations or profitability – and likewise explore the risks of not prioritising sustainability and what the future impact on your business could be.
Reflecting impacts in costs: Understand and measure the benefits of any investments you make in sustainability.
Setting and respecting limits: Identify what is realistically within and outside of your influence and what is practical for you to achieve.
Practising continuous monitoring: Track your progress and don’t forget to celebrate your successes – share your wins with your team, customers, local community and local media.

What are the benefits of a sustainable site?

The benefits of protecting the natural environment and natural resources go far beyond the satisfaction and feelgood factor you'll get from protecting and encouraging the natural world to flourish.

Taking a sustainable approach can also help to boost your business by:

Attracting new customers

In 2023, Booking.com’s Sustainable Travel Report found that 76% of travellers are looking for more sustainable options.
Focusing on sustainability on your site increases your appeal to environmentally eco-conscious travellers, who are growing in numbers year by year, and helps to deliver a positive outdoor experience where visitors can connect with nature.
Embracing innovation and creativity and introducing new features, be that through technology or natural interventions, will give you an edge over your competitors and make your campsite unique. A sustainable approach can help you to stand out from the crowd.
Increasingly, travellers are looking for an ‘experience’, prioritising experiences over ‘things’ when on holiday. Becoming a more sustainable eco-friendly site can help you to deliver an authentic and unique nature experience for your visitors, helping to build positive reviews, enhance your reputation and secure repeat bookings.

Saving money

Introducing new sustainable measures, such as LED lighting, solar panels or water-saving measures like low-flush toilets, can help you to save money on your utility bills by using fewer resources.
Investing in technology like solar panels or a wind turbine is a cost-effective way of generating your own electricity in the long term, and often comes with the opportunity to sell back any additional unused energy to the national grid.
Taking advantage of tax breaks and funding via grants to invest in sustainability or conservation projects, renovations or technology for renewable energy can also reduce your costs when making sustainability improvements.
Introducing recycling and composting for food waste can help reduce your waste management costs, especially if partnering with a local waste management company.
Attracting eco-conscious customers who are used to practising the ‘Leave No Trace’ approach can also help you to save more time and money by reducing the costs and time spent clearing up after visitors, as they are equally invested in preserving the beauty of your site.

Future proofing your business while protecting the environment

By preserving the natural environment and resources, you maintain and protect a clean, enjoyable environment for future visitors, repeat visitors and generations to come, ensuring your business can continue to operate long into the future.
Improving sustainability allows you to establish your business and your site as a leader in sustainability, helping to enhance your reputation in the long term.
By boosting your campsite’s reputation you will also attract positive reviews, word-of-mouth recommendations, media coverage and more, helping to build strong foundations for your business to grow.

What can I do to improve my sustainability?

Improving sustainability at your site can feel overwhelming, but there are some small changes you can make that require little time or financial investment but can still make a big impact on the environment.

Use the list below for inspiration, or ask for feedback and ideas from your team, visitors and local community – a suggestion box may feel a little old-school but it is still a great source of ideas!

Easy, quick wins

Introduce recycling bins everywhere you have a general waste bin on your site. Make it easy for customers to dispose of their waste responsibly.
Upcycle materials on site where possible – for example, to build seating, gates, fences or even on-site accommodation such as log cabins.
Create a Customer Pledge and display it around your site. This will encourage visitors to protect local wildlife, keep dogs on leads, leave no litter, respect the environment and each other. Check the Leave No Trace website for inspiration (or simply use their 7 principles).
If you offer on-site food or drink, or invite food trucks or sites onsite to sell food, try to offer locally sourced products. Not only does this cut down on the emissions of the products themselves, but it also ensures your visitors are supporting local businesses so their holiday benefits the wider local economy.
Switch to biodegradable bin bags and natural, chemical-free cleaning products, as well as plastic-free biodegradable soap bars or refillable dispensers where providing toiletries.
Provide information on local public transport and walking routes to help visitors reduce the use of their cars.
Make learning about the environment fun for your visitors. Offer tours or nature walks to educate customers on the importance of your work and looking after the environment.
For children, capture their imagination by creating a simple wildlife spotting quiz or treasure hunt for them to complete during their stay.

Medium-term wins

Where possible, protect and enhance the biodiversity of your site by creating designated walkways, pathways and roads for visitors to use, as well as clearly marked pitches, campfire and barbecue areas. This helps to protect plants and wildlife from damage and allows them to thrive.
Consider introducing compost bins for food and green waste. You could even use this compost as a fertiliser to encourage your plants to grow around the site.
Creating wildflower meadows and wildlife corridors is a great way to enhance the beauty of your site, as well as improving and increasing its biodiversity, allowing protected areas for wildlife, insects, plants and flowers to thrive. The Country Land and Business Association (CLA) has a great resource on creating wildlife corridors.
Try adding bat, bee and nesting boxes to your site to give wildlife a safe home. How wonderful for your guests to spot wildlife in these areas too!
Create an on-site communal garden with vegetables, fruits and herbs that customers can use for a small donation. Not only will this give your site a nice community feel, it will also help to cut down on the miles campers' food travels from the farm to their forks!
Explore switching to renewable energy sources. Utility comparison websites can help you understand which supplier will work best for you, but this can be a relatively easy way to reduce your carbon footprint overall.

Longer-term wins

If you have an on-site shop, try to limit plastic wrapping and packaging, and support local suppliers by stocking local products. Try to find plastic-free products, organic produce and free-range eggs… or even have hens on site!
Consider loaning bikes to guests, or partnering with a local bike hire service to offer discounts to guests. This will help them to leave their cars, reducing their carbon footprint while also offering a healthier (and fun!) alternative to driving.
You could provide pick up/drop off at nearby public transport so that any customers who do not own a car, or who want leave their car at home, can still easily access your site.
Reduce your site’s water usage. Introduce water pressure reducers on shower head flows, automatic taps, time limiters on showers, and dual-flush/low-flush toilets. Fix leaks as soon as possible, and train staff to reduce water usage, especially when cleaning. This all benefits the environment but also helps you to reduce your water bills!
Explore water treatment facilities to recycle waste water (grey water) from dishwashing, washing and showering. Once filtered, this can be used for hedge and plant watering on site. Collect rainwater and use this on site too.
If you have, or are considering introducing, on-site accommodation such as camping pods, use back to basics accommodation that is made from natural and reclaimed materials. Prioritise accommodation that works with, not against, the environment and landscape (log cabins, yurts etc) making it visually appealing but also less carbon-intensive.
Think about having composting toilets – they’re not as unsavoury as you may think!
Support your local community: partner with a local charity on fundraising events, or with local schools and colleges to offer stays or work experience to students interested in a future in tourism.
Communicate effectively: shout about your work both on and off site! On site, some guests may see time-limited showers as an inconvenience, but with enough context about conservation, and why you have introduced these measures, this could transform their experience of your site.

Post on social media channels such as eco-camping Facebook groups to attract new customers and enhance your reputation.
Invite your local paper for a tour of your site to see the improvements you’ve made!

What funding is available to make sustainability improvements?

The good news is that sustainability doesn’t have to cost the earth (pardon the pun!). As detailed above there are many low-cost changes you can make that benefit the environment and save you money in the long run. But, if you are looking to make bigger changes, invest in new technologies such as solar panels or wind turbines, or even build environmentally friendly accommodation, support is available across both the UK and Europe.

United Kingdom

Grant	Funding Body	Criteria	Amount available
Funding information page	VisitBritain directory – funding available through various organisations	Small, medium tourism businesses	Various
Funding for sustainability improvements	VisitBratain directory – various funders from UK government, to Lloyds bank, and start up loans	Small, medium tourism businesses	Various
Start-up loans	British Business Bank	Business must be within first 36 months of trading	Up to £25,000
Morewoods Fund	Woodland Trust	Tree-planting grants for 1.25 acres of new woodland, 1,000-1,600 new trees per hectare	Up to 75% of the cost of planting new trees
Rural England Prosperity Fund	Check with your local council	New and existing rural businesses looking to start or expand, including farms looking to diversify	Various
Development of rural tourism and recreation	Rural Funding: Loddon and Test Leader programme	Quality accommodation with wider benefit to local tourism economy; ecotourism, recreational activities in woodlands and forests, existing or new tourism activities	Up to £100,000
Eden Tourism Grants	Visit Eden	Tourism marketing grants that add value to the Eden visitor offer and/or contribute to the Eden visitor economy	£500
The National Forest	The National Forest (Midlands)	Projects must be delivered in the National Forest or benefit its communities and businesses	£500 - £10,000
Business enterprise fund	North East England	New businesses, or less than 2 years old; travel and leisure businesses turned down by high street banks	£500 - £250,000
Landowner Grants	New Forest National Park	Multiple grants available	Various
Rural Tourism Grant Scheme	Herefordshire Council	Businesses supporting the tourism sector	Up to £24,999 or 75% of total cost

European Union

Grants	Funding Body	Criteria	Amount available
LIFE Nature & Diversity	European Commission	Projects that protect and restore Europe’s nature and prevent biodiversity loss	Not specified
Guide on EU Funding for Tourism	European Union	Various dependent on business size and project	Various
EU Ecolabel criteria	European Commission	For support on developing a sustainability framework for your business, and marketing your eco-credentials	Various
European agriculture fund for rural development (agritourism)	Check your country’s Rural Development Programme for local details	Various – conservation and sustainability to social tourism	Various
Agritourism and agrifood opportunities	EU’s research and innovation programme	Biodiversity and ecosystems, rural coastal and urban communities, environmentally friendly food production	Various
EU rural tourism funding for SMEs	European Commission	Eligibility criteria	5,000 euro

Beyond making my site greener, what else can I do?

Sustainability includes many topics that aren’t just focused on environmental protection.

You could also consider:

Social responsibility: Fair employment practices and hiring from your local community, engaging with the local community/residents and supporting community groups and charities. For example, Pool Bridge Farm in North Yorkshire hosts regular events for locals including a choir in the barn and coffee and cake drop-in sessions for anyone needing a friendly face to chat to.
Accessibility: Making changes to your site so that it is welcoming for people with disabilities. To learn more, check out the Pitchup Accessibility Hub.
Supporting local businesses: Stocking local products or advertising their products or services to your visitors.
Supporting local attractions: Explore negotiating a discount for your visitors in exchange for promoting local attractions to your guests.
Encouraging sustainable behaviours: Help visitors learn how to be responsible tourists and respect the local community and environment. This could be as simple as displaying the Countryside Code and drawing a visitor’s attention to it during check in (it is included in every Pitchup booking confirmation email too!)