Sydney Backpackers Environmental Hostel in Sydney

The Jolly Swagman Backpackers Accommodation Sydney is aware of the impact we all have on the environment.
With having joined up with Village Green, (www.villagegreen.com.au) who work with us to facilitate innovative and ethical solutions to increase profitability and improve resource efficiency.

With their help Backpackers Accommodation in Sydney are learning to improve our Carbon Footprint (your carbon footprint is the sum of all emissions of CO2 [carbon dioxide], which are induced by your activities in a given time frame), by mainly reducing the consumption of water and electricity.

We have also introduced a new recycling system and encourage everyone to do his or her best to utilise this.

Why recycle?

Recycling delivers significant environmental benefits!

Take paper for example:

Every tonne of paper recycled saves-

• Around 13 trees
• 2.5 barrels of oil
• 4 cubic metres of landfill
• 31,780 litres of water
• 4100 kWh of electricity

It takes 70% less energy to produce paper from recycled paper than from trees.

Recycling prevents paper products going to landfill and avoids leacheate, which contaminates the groundwater and produces methane gas which has a greenhouse warming potential 21 times higher than carbon dioxide.

As well as the recycling of dry waste, we are also reducing organic waste being sent to landfill. Instead it is now being turned into fertilizer, and every tonne that is getting recycled produces enough electricity to power 16 homes and reduce 1.3 tonnes of greenhouse emissions!

We encourage

• Having shorter showers.. or share a shower with a friend!

Sydney swallows about 600 billion litres of water every year, more than 20 times what the two local dams can provide. When the next big drought comes, where will the remaining 95 per cent come from if we are not prepared to implement dramatic recycling programs that force people to alter their wastage of water?

• Turning lights/fans off when not in your room

This is common sense, but people can still forget to turn them off - always check before you leave your room!
Did you know? Leaving your lights on for an extra hour each day over the course of a week releases 20 tonnes of greenhouse gases (the equivalent of one car driving over 17,000 kms!).

• Walking or using public transport

Sydney has a great range of public transport options. The most common being the train and bus. There's also the Monorail which gives you a birds-eye view of the city, the comfy Lightrail that takes you from the city to the ‘burbs or the Public Ferry service which is a great cheap way to see the Sydney Harbour!

• Using the recycle bins provided.. this is what they look like in the Jolly Swagman Hostel in Sydney!      

Put all your bottles, cans, paper etc in these bins and the environment will love you forever!

• When buying groceries, say NO to PLASTIC BAGS.

Most large supermarkets now sell green environmentally friendly bags -

•  Cheap as chips and they are very versatile!
  
•  Re-use them for your next food shop 
•  Use it as a Beach Bag
•  To carry food through-out your Backpacking travels
•  A trendy hat maybe?

Do your bit to help the environment...

In Australia on the first weekend of March? Get your hands dirty and volunteer for Clean Up Australia Day!

Check out www.cleanup.com.au

Love the beach as much as us Aussie's do? Check out the great work Coast Care do!

www.coastcare.com.au

Earth Hour -

Originating in Sydney in 2007, the Earth Hour campaign has now gained global attention. As a result, on 8pm March 29, 2008 millions of people in some of the world's major cities united and switched off for Earth Hour. Sydney came alive with candles while people took advantage of the romantic darkness of the city.. Hopefully this will become a tradition every year, and maybe even become more frequent!

www.earthhour.org

We strive to be a ‘greener' hostel. Help us protect Australia, to make it an environmentally friendly country for fellow travellers to enjoy for years to come!