Sustainability
Sustainable hotel operations and tourism are important to us. That's why we take a number of everyday steps to reduce our footprint. Every day we work to increase climate, environmental and sustainability focus throughout the organisation. How can we minimise our environmental impact by making climate and environmentally friendly solutions when we make purchases and go about our daily business? Sustainability is also about people and corporate social responsibility, and about running your own business with regard to the environment, people, society and the economy.
Environmental lighthouse
We want to be part of the green transition and have therefore chosen to certify ourselves as an Eco-Lighthouse organisation. Just having an Eco-Lighthouse certification is not enough. We must work to improve - every day! On this page you can read more about what we do today and will do in our future environmental work.
Local food and drink
We collaborate with local food and drink producers and aim to serve our guests as much locally sourced and low-mileage food as possible. We buy fish both from the local fish farm Fonn Egersund and from Sirdal trout which produces mountain trout in the ice-cold Sirdalsvannet. Ørreten fra Sirdal imponerer oss med sin unike kvalitet, og er en råvare vi er svært glad for. Denne kortreiste fjellørret en er produsert i rent og kaldt fjellvann i Sirdal. Det kalde vannet gjør at fisken vokser sakte og får en fast konsistens og en god unik kvalitet.
Mye av kjøttet vi serverer på selskap og arrangement kommer fra Nyyyt in Bjerkreim. For oss er det viktig å bruke hele dyret, og vi tryller frem spennende retter, servert med sesongens grønnsaker, en passende saus og potet.
På våre drikkemenyer finner du et stort utvalg produkter fra Berentsens Brygghus which is located 850 metres from the hotel. We serve food from all over the world, but we're always trying to increase the amount of local, low-mileage and Norwegian ingredients we use.
Producer's evening
From time to time, we organise «producers» evenings" together with local players. These evenings focus on the local farmer or producer, and we show how the products can be processed and presented in different ways. In collaboration with the producer, we set up a whole evening where we use different techniques and accessories to show you several exciting variations of dishes and flavours with the local products. As a guest, you'll have the opportunity to get to know a local and exciting food producer, and the producer will be able to showcase the possibilities that the products represent.
Protecting listed buildings
Participating in the green shift usually involves major costly investments for a hotel, whether you're building new buildings or operating within an existing building stock.
Our hotel consists of several old buildings from the 1800s and is located in protection zone 1 in the heart of the wooden town of Egersund. In the process of converting these into a hotel, the focus has always been on building for the future and choosing sustainable, lasting solutions. Heating of rooms and water comes from ground source heat. New windows have been installed.
More measures and environmental considerations
Hotellet får grunnvarme som leverer en stor del av energien til hotellet. Grunnvarmen sørger for generell oppvarming av hotellet, samt varmtvannet. Alle rom har sparedusj. Vi kildesorterer papp, plast, glass, el-artikler og farlig avfall. Vi rapporter til ENOVA. Vi følger med på kilowattimer og har fokus på strømreduserende tiltak. De fleste pærer er LED-pærer, og vi bytter til LED-pærer fortløpende som de skiftes ut.
Bygninger
Hotellet består av flere gamle bygninger, hvor de fleste er totalrenoverte. Det innebærer at de er isolert etter dagens byggestandard. Alle vinduer er byttet ut og er av nyere standard.
Matsvinn
Vi har stort fokus på matsvinn, både for å spare kostander for å redusere miljøbelastningen med å produsere for mye mat. Vi har redusert tallerkenstørrelsen, slik at folk forsyner seg mindre, og heller kan gå flere ganger. Da kastes mindre mat. Tilstedeværelse i «den Historiske vertskapsrollen» innebærer at vertskapet f.eks. frokostverter er tilgjengelig og oppmerksom på gjesten og buffeten til enhver tid, og sørger for at det produserer opp ny mat fortløpende alt etter hva det går mye av. Vi fyller heller på med mat ofte, enn å fylle opp for mye for så å kaste. Vi har stort fokus på å bruke lokal mat, kortreist mat og lager det aller meste av maten fra bunnen på eget kjøkken.
Bærekraftsgruppe
Hotellet har en egen «bærekraftsgruppe» som til en hver tid leter etter forbedringsområder, og som jobber å finne store og små grep som kan være med å bidra til en mer bærekraftig hotelldrift. Det benyttes ikke lengre engangsglass på hotellrom, men vanlige vannglass som vaskes og brukes igjen.
Såper
We have stopped offering disposable soaps and now only have fixed soap dispensers in all hotel rooms. In 2023, we started using the soaps from Elm Organics. The soaps are certified organic and 100% vegan, and come in refill solution and recycled packaging.
Corporate social responsibility
The hotel received the AKS Award 2021. This means that, over time, the hotel has had a very good working relationship with AKS in relation to work inclusion and job placement for people who are outside the labour market. The hotel has been proactive and contacted AKS itself about job opportunities available at the hotel. AKS explains that they feel that Grand Hotell is committed to taking social responsibility by facilitating cooperation and that they recognise the skills and resources of people who are excluded from working life.
Grand Hotell Egersund always has at least one apprentice. As of today, we have a chef apprentice and a waiter apprentice. We prepare them for the world of work, and we try to make it as close to reality as possible for them.
Sustainable tourism
The hotel is a member of De Historiske Hotel & Spisesteder (The Historic Hotels & Restaurants), which has ambitions to contribute to sustainable tourism by, among other things, preserving Norway's unique natural and cultural values. This will be done through a shift towards greener, cross-sectoral and experience-based value creation. De Historiske has signed “Roadmap from the tourism industry in Norway - towards a sustainable tourism”, a roadmap they have also helped to develop.
What can you do as a conference guest?
Are several of you travelling in the same direction? We encourage you to share a car, or preferably take the train to Egersund. The train station is less than 1.3 kilometres from the hotel. Many of our guests choose to take the pleasant walk along the river, past Berentsens Brygghus, towards the city centre. You can also help us sort your waste by using the sorting bins located in all meeting rooms. Help yourself to as much food as you like at the breakfast and lunch buffets, but please only take what you can eat. Remember that we also serve dessert and coffee.
What can you do as a tourist?
UN Sustainable Development Goal number 12 «Responsible consumption and production». In short, it is about doing more with fewer resources. This means that both society and individuals reduce the use of resources, minimise environmental degradation and climate emissions. As a tourist and traveller, you can choose sustainable tour operators that take into account nature, animals and the people living in the destination. You can support local cafés, shops and tourism instead of choosing the big chains. Geotourists explore places they can travel to by train (and car) rather than by plane. You can also reduce your environmental footprint by staying more days in one place, travelling shorter distances and choosing holiday destinations closer to home.
Still a long way to go
Although we have already taken a number of measures, there is still a long way to go. Working with sustainability and green transition is a process. To sharpen our focus and remember to constantly look for areas of improvement, we have established an internal sustainability group across all departments. The group's task is to look for areas where we can improve and develop to work even more sustainably. The group comes up with ideas and suggestions for improvement, several of which are tested and implemented.
Over a period of time, we have had too large a proportion of residual waste (as opposed to sorted waste) We have therefore implemented a number of measures to minimise the amount of unsorted waste. New sorting systems have been installed in kitchens, in facilities and in guest areas. We will also be working to achieve better solutions for sorting in all four of our bars and in our new bar reception.
We are currently in a phase where we weigh all food waste, as we want to determine whether it would be beneficial to invest in our own composting machine.