Ethical Policy

 

 

Sustaining the Environment

A narrowboat holiday on the UK canals and rivers is the perfect way to explore the beautiful countryside of England, Wales & Scotland. Enjoyment of the holiday depends upon the sustainability of the canals, the towpaths and the countryside itself.

At ABC Leisure Group we are proud to actively work to reduce our impact on the environment. We consider all aspects of our operations and are constantly reviewing our activities and trying to minimize our environmental impact throughout the organisation.

Although a narrowboat holiday is a very low carbon holiday we try to ensure we improve this and our general marina activities even further.

• We make a donation on behalf of our hirers to the Waterways Trust Green Fund to offset the small amount of carbon created by every holiday we provide. We also provide our customers with the option of making a donation to offset the carbon from their travel to and from the holiday start location.
• All our holiday brochures, documents and information are available on the UK Boat Hire website electronically. The information booklets that are sent out with holiday confirmation are recycled (hirers are invited to return the booklets to the marinas at the end of the holiday for recycling).
• Our hire boats are fitted with long life oil filters requiring only one oil change each year, reducing waste petrochemical and filter quantities.
• We use efficient modern diesel engines and encourage hirers to drive the boat responsibly by charging them directly for the actual fuel they use.
• A plentiful supply of hot water is supplied to sinks and showers which is produced as a by-product from the cooling system of the engine.
• Boats are all provided with Ecover washing up liquid and our cleaners use a Diversy Leaver cleaning system. These reduced packaging waste and are completely and immediately biodegradable which has minimum effect on aquatic life and the surrounding environment.
• We endeavour to recycle as much of our waste as is practically possible and constantly look for ways of improving our impact on the environment. Waste from our sites is either pre treated or sorted by the disposing companies.
• Our boat building operations use as many materials as possible from recycled and sustainable sources and we try to fit low energy equipment where possible. We are able to build Eco hulls which limit wash that erodes banks and increases fuel efficiency.