The Cary Arms Hotel & Spa – Sustainability & Social Responsibility

Our achievements so far include -  

  • A new waste management system was implemented in May 2018 reducing our waste to landfill by approximately 70%

  • Our hotel bedrooms all now have fancy new bins which are divided into two compartments, one for general waste (hopefully staying as empty as possible!) and one for recyclable items!

  • Our commitment to eliminate single use plastics has led to the following changes.
    • Replacing plastic straws with a paper option, straws are also now included only on request and not as standard. (I know, who hasn’t made this change right?)
    • No additional plastic stirrers or similar are now offered
    • We have removed all single use water bottles from the hotel. The individual water bottles provided for guests in their check out bags, to quench thirst on the journey home, have been replaced by water in aluminium cans. Aluminium cans are 5 times more likely to be recycled than plastic bottles. 
    • All our guests are provided with complimentary still and sparkling water within their bedroom. These are replenished during the daily service if required. These have previously been single use plastic or glass bottles delivered in from our suppliers. In 2019 we invested in a state of the art water filtration system which now provides mineral water quality still and sparkling water right on site from our mains supply. This water is used to fill our 100% reusable, glass Cary Arms branded bottles. With over 5,000 room nights per year this is up to 10,000 single use bottles that no longer need to be either thrown away or recycled. In addition, this has removed the carbon emissions that were previously required to ship these water bottles from manufacturer, to wholesaler, to us and then on to the waste processing site! Not to mention the fact they are some damn good looking bottles we now have for you to enjoy pouring your water from!
    • A side effect of our “fancy new bins” is that they no longer require bin bags! 5,000 room nights a year, 2 bins per unit on average, that’s 10,000 plastic bags removed from use per year!
    • Single use plastic cups have been removed from both the spa and gym, hand carved, reusable, acacia wood cup anyone?

  • We have been making our lighting more energy efficient throughout the site, although this has initially been a massive investment it is already reaping rewards. Conventional lighting is being replaced by LED and both dusk to dawn and movement sensors have been replacing the conventional on off switch wherever possible throughout the hotel

  • You’re one of the forward thinking, environment loving and carbon emission reducing crowd that now head off on holiday in your electric car? No problem, use our state of the art, Pod Point charger free of charge to get the required juice for your drive home.

  • Our new full electric moped has been added to our fleet for December 2019 in partnership with cootscootz.com. “Buzz” our new electric moped alone is estimated to take on 3 out of 4 small errands a day which previously were completed by a standard combustion engine, therefore removing approximately 2 tonnes of carbon emissions from the environment single-handedly! GO BUZZ!!

  • In Summer 2020, we purchased our new full electric Nissan ENV-200 Combi, replacing yet another petrol vehicle from our fleet, that’s now us fully electric and another tonne of carbon saved!

  • Single use and fabric slippers were previously provided to visitors to our spa. Not only were these a bit slippy around the pool but it was also over 10,000 slippers per year that were being used for no more than an hour or two on average and then thrown in the bin! We now offer super comfy rubber sandals to all guests which are collected, washed, sanitised, and reused. 

  • We have also introduced some palm leaf plates in summer 2020 for our picnic hampers and room service.

  • Our green, garden waste is now recycled on site using a simple, centuries old, system of heap rotation in unused woodland behind Rose Cottage, great for the trees and great for the environment! It was previously collected by truck and driven away for processing.

  • Our vegetarian and vegan menu is now available to all guests alongside our standard offering and has proven to be a big success, not only does this offer more choice to our guests but each plant-based meal eaten saves a bunch of resources compared to its meat based equivalent.

  • The expansion and continued establishment of our on site herb garden means that most of the herbs used by Chef in your meals and by our mixologists behind the bar are now grown on site!

  • Our partnership with seachangewine.com, supported by Sir David Attenborough, is continuing to go from strength to strength. Not only are their delicious wines produced with sustainable and visibly reduced packaging material but £3 from every case we buy goes to a range of charities committed to reducing plastic waste from our ocean environments.

  • We are now the proud owners of an aqueous ozone generator. Clinically proven to be more effective than bleach in killing bacteria and bugs, along with posing no harm to the environment! The generator turns standard water into highly effective stabilised aqueous ozone which can be used for all cleaning purposes throughout the site, in spray bottles, mop buckets and everything else that is needed! Amazingly after 24 hours the active product reverts to its original state as plain old H20 meaning no chemical by products are introduced to the environment or water system! This also means we will be removing the need for cleaning supplies to be shipped from manufacturer, to wholesaler, to us!

  • Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree, what a shame to cut down thee! That's why the 30 Christmas Trees we use each year are now the same trees every year! Some of the smaller trees are kept on site year round and looked after in house, the larger trees are brought to us each December and taken away each January, expertly looked after and brought back to us the following Christmas,
  • Our Chef’s are already massively committed to using the best local produce Devon has to offer but 2020 sees the launch of our very own vegetable garden. Not only will we be growing our own delicious produce for Chef to work his magic on, but the garden is also designed to provide educational opportunities to our horticultural apprentices from South Devon College and the students we welcome twice a week from Combe Pafford School. Combe Pafford School caters for pupils aged 8 - 19 who have moderate learning difficulties, physical difficulties, ASC or complex needs. Their students join us 2 days a week for up to 2 years, providing them with the grounding and experience needed to become comfortable in the workplace whilst offering a great grounding in a hands-on career that is of interest to them.

  • The expansion of our own site compost processing. After the success of processing our own garden waste we will now be adding our food waste, cardboard and paper to the mix. We hope we will be able to process all of the waste generated in these areas across the hotel and use the compost across our site.

  • The launch of a paperless billing option for guests. At check out each guest will still be able to check through their bill and purchased items but will now be doing this by scrolling through it on an iPad. The bill can then be e-mailed direct to them for their files if required.

  • We have a new range of sustainable toiletries for use within the hotel that include zero single use plastics! Compostable or recyclable paper packaging will be replacing all that horrible plastic wrap currently used in many of the complimentary items provided for our guests. Refillable dispensers for body wash and shampoo are in all showers

  • Our new relationship with a local brewery to produce ‘Sammy’s Ale’ is allowing us to support the RSPCA with 50p from every pint being donated to them. Sammy the Seal has been a valued member of our team for 10 years now but unfortunately both Sammy and his gang of friends have needed support from the RSPCA over the years, mostly due to issues with fishing lines, plastic waste and other problems created by us troublesome humans!
  • A new rain water collection system along with solar powered water pump will be trialled for irrigation of the hotel gardens


Please note that our Electric POD charger incures a standard charge of £25