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So much to see, so much to do | Animals Rides & Fun

Old MacDonald's Farm Environmental Policy Statement

Joseph Manning is proud to announce that as a company with newly integrated working processes and buying commitments we will strive to become Carbon Neutral.

We are committed to achieving this aim. It is too easy to try and opt out of this subject by claiming it is too expensive, or that there are special reasons why we cannot do anything about the way we work, but too many people take this view and we will not follow their path. 



However we will achieve this without passing on the costs to our customers. We will do this by properly managing our work in future and by staged reductions in emissions.

Our first step was to make this commitment, and below here is the programme that we intend to take. I make no apology for the length of the full piece but the summary at the start of the article will give the outline and I urge you to read the full item because I will welcome your comments. 



"If we take on this challenge we can be responsible for the introduction of innovations equal to those of our forerunners who were pioneers in bringing great entertainment to the public. Our challenge is to match their brilliance with that of our own and take our full part in this necessary fight against Global Warning. We will lead in this in our industry and I hope others will follow, then we can learn from each other and really make a difference."



Old MacDonald's Farm has already taken great strides in introducing environmentally friendly policies and practices as all vehicles used on the farm are electric powered and therefore carbon free. Now Joseph wants to drastically improve the recycling on the farm. In May he will be meeting with leaders of Brentwood Council to arrange regular recycling collections at the farm and a system where all visitors to the farm will be encouraged to separate recyclable materials from others as they use the farm. "This" says Joseph “will educate the children, and their parents too, in good practices that they can use for the rest of their lives. I also hope that we can set up a model scheme in partnership with Brentwood that will be an example for all other companies, and certainly all other visitor attractions, to copy."

The first stage was to undertake a full environmental audit of all our functions and to commence a programme to offset the carbon emissions. Greenpeace have offered to advise us on achieving the Gold Standard for Carbon offsets and we look forward to receiving their help on this to achieve our targets. We have already begun to look at the environmental impact of our work, and list the outline findings below, because offsetting is not enough, we want to make an actual reduction over coming years to achieve this.

We must look to adapt all vehicles and generators needed to produce power on the farm so that they use Bio Diesel instead of normal diesel, subject to confirmation that Bio Diesel is environmentally sustainable. We have already made a start by purchasing electric driven vehicles to use on site. We can look at energy saving lighting on site and find imaginative ways of decorating our farm without using scarce resources. 



However there are other functions that must be considered, such as administration in the office and generation of paper is part of this. We wish to work with local authorities to find ways in which they can check safety certification without the need to churn out reams of pointless papers. We must recycle more through our offices and our homes as should everyone, and find ways of saving energy by not using "standby" on electrical equipment. We must cut down on unnecessary car journeys to meetings and review our personal car fleet.

Visitor attractions generate considerable detritus from their operations, and whilst we are careful in collecting such rubbish and removing it from the beautiful site in which we work, we are not as careful as we could be in separating recyclable materials from general rubbish. We should also take care that all refreshments sold are in recyclable containers and that there are plenty of receptacles around for such materials to be placed in by the public.

We must look at use of water in the farm, because water is a scarce resource too. We must ensure that we are not needlessly wasteful in our work.

Finally, and with most exciting potential, is that we are looking to innovate with environmental methods of power generation at the farm, not only for practical reasons but also for educational purposes, and also offer any and all organisations, local or national, space at our farm to promote environmental concern. We will work with them to adapt the fun games at our farm so that they educate whilst they amuse. 



We shall also seek to insist on a fair trade purchase policy for our own company and for all our suppliers and sub contractors. We shall seek to purchase goods required locally to cut back on transport involved in their supply and also to encourage local economies. Similarly we shall seek to employ local people at our events for casual functions and other events. We shall also seek to ensure that the profits of the event are shared in an equitable way as this will be advantageous to all.

Bio Fuels are a comparatively new innovation and we shall experiment with their use to establish how our equipment can be adapted to use them. We cannot have circumstances where we are powering up our attractions to find that the fuel system fails, leaving our customers dangling albeit in an environmentally friendly way. We will work with other bodies, statutory and voluntary, to introduce bio fuels for all equipment used by operators at our events. However we will take the best possible advice to ensure that Bio fuels are not in fact damaging the environment too by causing destruction of woodland in tropical countries, and the replacement of local indigenous trees by Palm Tree planting replacing jungle woodlands. 



We also want to work with others to turn the standard for Sustainable Development, an ambitious and worthwhile document, into a working and easily understandable series of steps for those participating in our activities to implement.


This is a very ambitious programme, and whilst implementing this we will be continuing to provide great value entertainment for everyone at our public.