The Green Blue aims to help boaters, sailing clubs and marinas to minimise their impact on the environment
The Crown Estate has granted the Royal Yachting Association and British Marine Federation’s environmental awareness programme, The Green Blue, funding for a further three years.
The Green Blue works with boaters, yachting and boat clubs and marine businesses to provide advice and guidance on energy efficiency, recycling and water use – promoting all round environmental best practice.
The Crown Estate has provided funding for the project since its launch in 2005 and from 2009 the money has specifically helped The Green Blue to employ a dedicated sustainability officer, who works closely with the UK’s marine leisure sector.
Since its launch The Green Blue has helped hundreds of clubs and marinas across the UK, the vast majority of whom are The Crown Estate’s tenants, to minimise their impact on the environment.
This has involved environmental audits, engaging members and berth holders to help them go green on board, advising on energy efficiency, setting up improved waste management systems resulting in millions of litres of waste being diverted from landfill to recycling and encouraging the installation of washdown and pump out facilities to protect water quality.
More recently The Green Blue helped the Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy and Sunsail to achieve ISO 20121, a sustainable event management standard.
The Crown Estate’s coastal manager, Gary Thompson said: ‘Our portfolio of assets includes over 17,000 licensed moorings around the UK which are vital to the marine leisure community.
‘We therefore felt that it is crucial to help this community reduce their impact on the marine environment by providing funding to The Green Blue.
‘The project has been a fantastic success, winning our Marine Business Award in 2011, an award which recognises excellence in sustainability, innovation and business performance.
‘The extension of our funding agreement recognises the positive contribution the project has made to UK’s marine leisure sector.’
The Green Blue’s project manager, Jane Swan, said: ‘We are delighted that the support from The Crown Estate is set to continue for another three years.
‘It is vital that the development and use of the UK leisure marine sector is as sustainable as possible for today and for future generations, and we look forward to continuing our work with The Crown Estate’s leisure marine properties to help them achieve the highest standards of environmental stewardship.’