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Sustainability Efforts at Alton Towers

Craig

Craig

TS Administrator
I've created this individual topic to discuss sustainability efforts at Alton Towers. We've seen a lot of discussion spread over individual topics in recent weeks, so thought it was time to centre them into one individual topic. Obviously some previous discussion will be located in other topics as it's difficult to move them without interrupting the flow of existing discussion (Merlin Platinum Pass cups, pre packaged croissants in the hotels for example).

But since this is a hot topic of discussion pretty much everywhere at present, it'd be good to have an individual topic to discuss and talk about ideas :)
 
On the subject of packaging, another thing they need to get rid of ASAP is the plastic cups that beer is served in the Courtyard and the event bars. They were even using them in Margs on Saturday night after they had ran out of glasses and were waiting for the next lot of clean ones to come through. Such a terrible waste of plastic.

Most sports venues now serve beers in more sturdy re-useable plastic cups that can be refilled and then returned once you are done with them. Get some of these in, give them a nice Alton Towers design, charge a £1 or £2 deposit and you're sorted.
 
jon81uk said:
On the plastic cup thing, they really should use resuable plastic cups on park that can go through a dishwasher. Do they use glass in welcom-inn?
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Nope, it's plastic cups there. Beer at Woodcutters is in glasses but that is it on park (well and RCR, but I don't count that).
 
Why is it that Towers doesn’t serve drinks in glasses, for the most part? Just about every pub or sit-down restaurant I’ve ever been to has served drinks of all varieties in glasses.
 
Matt N said:
Why is it that Towers doesn’t serve drinks in glasses, for the most part? Just about every pub or sit-down restaurant I’ve ever been to has served drinks of all varieties in glasses.
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I can understand not serving glass in the park (outside of the sit down food options) as it’s a risk for broken glass. But they need the reusable plastic cups.
 
Matt N said:
Why is it that Towers doesn’t serve drinks in glasses, for the most part? Just about every pub or sit-down restaurant I’ve ever been to has served drinks of all varieties in glasses.
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As above, the sit-down places (Woodcutters and Rollercoaster Rest) do serve in glass.

The temporary bar for Mardi Gras probably won't have a disnwasher, so makes sense why they have to be disposible.

At the Welcom-Inn I guess they don't consider glass to be safe enough, but as above I can't see why they couldn't use hard plastic and wash them there as it will have plumbing.
 
jon81uk said:
Yeah Welcom-inn really should be serving in washable plastic if they don't see glass as being safe as there will definitely be space to use a dishwasher there. The temporary Mardi Gras bar makes a bit more sense using disposable as washing will be harder.
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There is no excuse for disposable glasses, full stop.
If there are H&S concerns, then rigid plastic washable ones should be the only alternative in a contained park...Who exactly is going to walk off with them?
 
rob666 said:
There is no excuse for disposable glasses, full stop.
If there are H&S concerns, then rigid plastic washable ones should be the only alternative in a contained park...Who exactly is going to walk off with them?
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Goons or people who know they can flog things on eBay to goons who have more money than sense?
 
rob666 said:
There is no excuse for disposable glasses, full stop.
If there are H&S concerns, then rigid plastic washable ones should be the only alternative in a contained park...Who exactly is going to walk off with them?
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But in a temporary bar in a van there isn't likely a mains water supply to wash the washable cups with.
 
The more events they run where single use plastic cups are handed out the more economical it becomes to switch to reusable plastic.

When it was ‘just’ the Welcom-Inn handing these out then perhaps the case for investing in the equipment wasn’t there. Now you have multiple events during the year then the ‘cost per cup’ comes down.

Whilst having to wash them will push up costs, removing the need to empty as many bins and pay trade waste removal and potentially land fill tax to get rid of them brings costs down in other areas.

In short, sort yourself out Towers and get some reusable plastic cups in.

They can also use these in Pizza Pasta instead of the throw away cups they hand out too.
 
jon81uk said:
I forgot pizza/pasta uses single-use cups. That also makes no sense when they use china plates and metal silverware.
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In catering, glasswashers are often separate to dishwashers, so they likely only have dishwashing facilities in there. It's not an insurmountable obstacle, but it might explain the reasoning.
 
What's everyone's opinion on the sustainability effects on maps? I know they've stopped doing paper maps because of COVID and then not bought them back since because of apparent environmental reasons but I was sunder the impression that paper, although not ideal wasn't actually that bad? Is it worth having paper maps?
Personally, I'm very conflicted, I doubt maps have a significant impact on the environment but at the same time we should do anything to reduce the effect we have on the environment. I always liked a paper map (even if I struggled to read it) as a bit of a free item to remember your trip.
 
JAperson said:
What's everyone's opinion on the sustainability effects on maps? I know they've stopped doing paper maps because of COVID and then not bought them back since because of apparent environmental reasons but I was sunder the impression that paper, although not ideal wasn't actually that bad? Is it worth having paper maps?
Personally, I'm very conflicted, I doubt maps have a significant impact on the environment but at the same time we should do anything to reduce the effect we have on the environment. I always liked a paper map (even if I struggled to read it) as a bit of a free item to remember your trip.
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This goes back to what @AT86 was saying - whilst it's a free item to remember your trip, it doesn't make them any money. The map is static, it does nothing but show you pictures and text. They push the alternative - the app because it can be used dynamically. They can upsell stuff before your visit, when you're there they can push adverts to you to encourage you to visit places and afterwards they can ask you how your visit went to gain insights into their guests.

Getting rid of the map is a direct cost saving in the first place, but the sheer amount of potential revenue/data the app brings is far more valuable too.
 
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