Our Sustainability Promise
Our approach to sustainability: working with our hotel team, suppliers, and contractors we endeavour to manage our business in an effective sustainable way.
Buying Policy
At The Bird, we take great pride in using locally sourced ingredients in our dishes. During the spring and summer months, we work closely with our sister properties, which have tremendous ‘no-dig’ kitchen gardens, where we take full advantage of their homegrown produce to enhance our fresh and flavourful dishes. In addition to this, we also purchase close to 90% of our ingredients from within the UK. Our commitment to local sourcing also extends to the distance we travel to obtain our ingredients, with most of our purchases made within a 30-mile radius.
Rewilding
In May 2023 we have partnered with folc rosé and together we are gifting our guests with wildflower seed tags that can be planted, watered and nurtured at home. Wildflowers attract and sustain a substantial number of wildlife species, they are also great composters and can help to regulate water filtration systems. They support a vast range of different living organisms and do all this while looking pretty glorious too! It's a small gesture but one that we hope will inspire others to embrace sustainable gardening practices.
Guest rooms
In 2022, we replaced our small plastic amenity bottles with larger reusable bottles. At the start of this year, we switched our plastic water bottles for departing guests to locally sourced glass ‘Bath Water’ bottles. Additionally, we have given our guests the opportunity to reduce their energy consumption when they are staying by only servicing their rooms and replacing their towels and sheets upon request. We also encourage our guests to reduce their usage by only using the air conditioning when they are in the rooms and ensuring they switch off the lights when they go out for the day. Our bedrooms aren’t afraid of the dark!
Utilities
From the middle of 2022, we have been implementing several initiatives throughout the hotel with an emphasis on sustainability. Firstly, we are changing all lights in the hotel from energy-sapping conventional bulbs to LED light bulbs that use less energy, last longer, and contain no toxic chemicals. In addition, we have installed water-reducing bags in all cisterns in the hotel which cut down water usage by up to 3 litres per flush. Lastly, we encourage our guests to reduce their carbon footprint and travel sustainably during their stay with us, with many opting to arrive via public transport and fully taking advantage of our central location in the beautiful (and infinitely walkable) city of Bath.
Upcycle
We believe that good food should be good for the planet, which is why we are committed to reducing our carbon footprint and minimising waste. But sustainability isn’t all about the food; from upcycled furniture, repurposed lighting displays and our very own gin distilled in Bristol, we promote a whole new meaning for ‘reduce, reuse, recycle’.
Our people
As part of their onboarding process, all of our teams are encouraged to read and sign a sustainability agreement, outlining our commitment to reducing waste, promoting eco-friendly practices, and minimizing our environmental impact. It is important to us to not only support our employees with fair pay, but also to make a positive impact on the planet. By prioritising sustainability in both our operations and our company culture, we strive to create a better future for all.