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Our Green Commitment

Protecting Britain’s magical waterland for future generations.

Sustainable Tourism

The Broads is an internationally important wetland, with the status equivalent to a National Park.  There are more than 40 broads or small lakes linked together by approximately 125 miles of navigable water.  It is a truly magical area that is home to many species of rare plants, animals, insects and birds.  The area offers a wealth of outdoor recreational opportunities, but it is also a very fragile environment.

Here at Norfolk Broads Direct we are committed to the environment. The Broads offers a wealth of outdoor fun activities, but does need to be protected so that everyone can enjoy the special environment now and in the future.

As part of this commitment we aim to reduce the impact of our activities on the environment.

Transport

We encourage the use of public transport where possible.

Hoveton and Wroxham train station is only a 10-15 minute walk to the boat yard.

For more information on how to get to us by public transport, click here

As part of our Environmental Commitment we aim to:

  • Continually improve our environmental performance in all of our activities, products and services.
  • Comply with and where possible exceed all environmental legislative requirements.
  • Commit to raise the awareness of our staff with regard to green related issues and ensure they know how important their role is in achieving our goals.

We know that we can’t achieve these aims alone so we welcome input from all of our staff, customers and any other interested parties.

So What Are We Doing?

Our priorities are to Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

  • We consider carefully before printing, although when we do it is on recycled paper
  • Where possible confirmations, newsletters and special offers are sent via email to save on paper and postage.
  • Our promotional material is available to download from our website, however  if our customers prefer a printed copy they can rest assured all of our brochures and leaflets are printed on recycled paper or paper sourced from renewable forests. In the last few years we have assessed our print runs and reduced the amount of brochures that we have printed with more information such as 360 virtual boat tours available online.
  • We reuse single sided printed paper in our office and workshop, and we reuse old linen and towels as cleaning rags.
  • We have recycling facilities all around our site for staff and customer use.  We recycle all waste paper, cardboard, cans, plastic bottles, containers and glass.
  • Printer cartridges from our business use and any of our staff’s private use are collected by our stationery provider who then make a donation to their nominated charity, The World Land Trust.
  • Waste metal and old engines or engine parts are taken to the local scrap yard or sold on ebay.
  • When we do have to dispose of non-recyclable waste we use our onsite compactor to minimise the volume of waste we send to landfill.
  • All of our waste wood is recycled
  • Hazardous waste is disposed of in line with the 2005 regulations.
  • Since April 2019 we replaced red diesel with GTL fuel,  helping to reduce emissions and improve local air quality. Being biodegradable too should minimise the impact of an accidental spillage.

Energy

We monitor all electricity usage and endeavour to reduce our consumption by:

  • Replacing all electric bulbs with a low energy alternative, and using LEDs on boats to help reduce power consumption.
  • Monitoring the use of storage heaters in our offices and holiday homes to ensure that units are turned to the minimum setting in vacant properties / offices.
  • All of our immersion heaters have been set at 60 – 62 degrees centigrade.
  • Hot water is provided for Apartments 6 & 7 by a solar panel.
  • All of our workshops have been insulated with Kingspan thermal panels.
  • Our newest holiday cruisers from Fair Statesman and Fair Executive and newer (2013+) are lined with a insulation product provided by 3M, called thinsulate.
  • All our holiday apartments and office have double glazing.

Cleaning Products / Toiletries

We continually review what cleaning products we use:

  • We use eco-friendly cleaning products wherever possible.
  • We provide phosphate-free washing up liquid for all of our customers on our hire cruisers and in our holiday homes.

Prior to arrival, we send all of our hire cruiser customers information about the impact of phosphates on the water quality in the Broads.  They can then source phosphate-free toiletries in advance of their holiday.

Water

  • In our customer toilet block we use harvested rainwater to flush the toilets and have waterless urinals.
  • We monitor the flow of the showers and taps in our holiday homes.
  • We harvest rainwater to water our hanging baskets, all other planting on site is drought resistant.
  • Most of our cleaning chemicals are phosphate-free

Trees

At Norfolk Broads Direct, we recognise the impact our fibre glass cruisers have and are trying to offset this by planting trees. For every new boat that we build, we have committed to planting one new tree. In the Spring of 2014 we planted three trees at Fairhaven Woodland and Water Garden in South Walsham. The ‘twinned trees’ will be planted in Broadland locations to encourage our customers to visit these wonderful attractions and even visit the tree linked with their cruiser! Customers hiring Fair Executive 1 or 2, or Fair Senator 2 will have details in their Skipper’s manuals about the locations of the planted Oak, Horse Chestnut and Ash trees that can be found at Fairhaven. Fair Chancellor 1 and 2 are twinned with a Sweet Chestnut and Hazel at Salhouse Broad and  seven trees are located at How Hill. These comprise of Hazels representing Fair Commissioner 1 and 2, Fair Entrepreneur 1 and 2, leaving the final three planted for a regular customer wishing to give something back to the local area.

Customers have the opportunity to plant trees in some of their favourite locations through Norfolk Broads Direct. Tree planting is important both for CO2 conversion, but also as habitats for wildlife and aiding the reduction of flooding (as well as many other reasons!). For every tree our customers plant in the Broads through us, we will match this and take it one further: we’ll plant two more trees!