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Oh the relief! We’re just arriving at one of Christchurch’s most eco-friendly motels – CentrePoint On Colombo. After a day of travel with two children under three, we’re salivating at the thought of checking into our eco-friendly ‘Luxury Suite’.

I’m also curious to see what an up-market city motel means by the term ‘eco-friendly’. Do they compost? Do they drive electric cars and grow organic food?   Do they use eco-friendly products? The more I ponder the ‘greener’ options that a busy city-based motel must face, the more I realize how many there are …

Owners Jeff and Naomi Peters welcome us, and we carry our wriggling brood into our suite, home-sweet-home for the night. The tour begins and I’m drawn instantly to the small compost bins on the bench.
“Is this a worm bin?” asks photographer Ginny.
“No it’s a compost bin, the local council pick up organic compost each week,” Jeff says.
“Really? The Christchurch City Council have a compost scheme?” I was deeply impressed.
Jeff explains how most guests seem to adapt to using their small compost container, complete with degradable bags (which are called this because they break down and disappear quickly into virtually nothing) and recycling bins quite easily.

Wow. Christchurch has come a long way since I last walked its streets. As well as recycling, they now fling hundreds of thousands of bins of compost into a mega large compost pile on a regular basis.

I contemplate what a large operation that must be – both logistically and geographically. Jeff said he took his kids along once, to make sure they were walking their talk, and he was awed by the sheer scale (two football fields) of the Christchurch City Council’s endeavours. I’m smitten with this idea. And I wonder how many other towns are doing this.

Jeff and Naomi leave us to settle in and I conduct my own tour of the suite. Ah, the bathroom – my personal choice of in-house sanctuary. And this one’s lush. It’s clean and new and I’m deeply impressed to note that the soap, shampoo and conditioner appear to be quite natural, and not in that token fake-natural way either. Later I’m told that the soaps are made in New Zealand, are indeed totally natural, and they get recycled. Jeff even proudly shows me several large buckets of soaps destined to be sent back to their makers in Auckland for recycling. Most guests hardly touch their little bars of soaps, if at all.

Jeff and Naomi (who is from Japan) are a hard working couple whose extra effort has ensured their motel rates number one out of one hundred and forty four motels on ‘Trip Advisor’ – a site where travellers rate their accommodation experiences. I find it interesting to learn that although they enjoy making a positive environmental difference, they describe themselves as more ‘middle of the road’, rather than ‘greenies’. They say being more environmentally efficient reduces their overall costs, is in line with industry standards (such as Qualmark) and makes a great impression with their customers.
“You wouldn’t say the majority of people expect it at the moment. [But] people appreciate it when they find it. They don’t expect it, but they’re happy to see it,” Jeff said.

The couple and their children moved to New Zealand two years ago, after spending twenty years in Japan. There, environmentalism wasn’t an option, it was a necessity.

“When we lived in Japan there was quite a big emphasis on recycling and reusing everything, so we put the effort into getting as much recycled over there as we could … when we came over here it was a natural flow on to be able to do that kind of thing,” Jeff explained. “It’s just that the world that we live in is kind of limited so it’s a case of how can we get on and make it work a bit better. In New Zealand it’s very strange because we’ve got a massive land mass with only four million people in it and if you go to Japan they’re not self-sufficient in food, they’re not self-sufficient in energy. They’ve got one hundred and twenty million people in the same size as New Zealand so it really makes you wonder. In New Zealand we say we’re clean and green but really are we? You’ve got to do something, [even if you start off small], like our cute little plastic box. People like getting that and we’ve done the explanation thing, on the official Christchurch website.”

Here in our luxurious motel room, they’ve installed key card controlled electricity switches so that we only use power when we’re in the room. I note they’ve decked the rooms out with energy efficient light bulbs, inside and out.

Also, they make a point of inviting guests to re-use their towels, rather than change them daily as is usual practice. I later find out that just this measure alone, saves hundreds of litres of water per month (they know this because they go to great lengths to measure the amount of towels they’re no longer washing), as well as a considerable amount of power.

A multitude of other small actions stack up to make a difference including dual flush toilets, regularly cleaning the clothes dryer filter, drying laundry outside as often as possible, using only cold water in the washing machines, and taking care to explain to guests how to walk (rather than drive) to nearby city attractions.

I’m beginning to realise that until recently within the accommodation industry, the term ‘luxury’ wasn’t always synonymous with environmental efficiency. While at home many of us would reuse a towel without thinking twice, here in this up-market motel, having your towels changed each day is part of the service, but opting to re-use them is welcomed. Naomi and Jeff are managing to massage in a range of new behaviours that barely affect customers, yet really make a difference.

I’m interested to know more about the ‘word’ that’s trickling down from the industry’s quality control agencies about the importance of sustainable practice.

Says Jeff:
“Qualmark is really pushing the green stuff at the moment; they’ve got their Qualmark Gold, Silver and Bronze. Last year we were invited to apply for the Silver status, we’re just in the process now of going for it. You’ve really got to be on the ball and be doing lots of things to get it. You get so many points for each thing. To get Silver … it’s the monitoring of what’s going in and out of your place … they’re not saying you’ve got to reduce, reduce, reduce; they’re saying you’ve got to be aware of what’s happening, so that if there is a chance that you can reduce something somewhere, then do it. Or if there’s nothing to be done. That’s fine.”

And what does it take to reach Qualmark’s Gold standard?
“If we had a stream running through our property with enough water flowing through to run an electric generator, etc, we’d be considered. Basically, with the size of the property we have, we don’t have enough options. Maybe if we were to put solar panels all over the roof … and went totally that way then we’d get Gold. There are places who have more options to exercise and they’ve got Gold, but it’s not so easy in the city.”

This couple have created a comfortable, up-market and eco-friendly motel experience in Christchurch. It’s plain to see how they’ve reached such high standards – their attention to detail (much of which is apparently owed to Naomi’s Japanese heritage), combined with their welcoming and relaxed manner as hosts were certainly very appealing to me. I’d seriously consider returning.

If you’d like to stay at CentrePoint on Colombo and meet the hosts personally, whilst experiencing some of Christchurch’s best restaurants and entertainment, here are their contact details:
CentrePoint on Colombo
859 Colombo St.
Christchurch 8013, New Zealand
Reservations freephone 0800 859 000 (NZ only)
Ph. 64 3 377 0859
Fax 64 3 377 1859
[email protected]

Tags: Accommodation, Eco-friendly, Environment, recycling