Greening your club needn’t be hard
“Take it a step at a time” says Carol Gilles, winner of The Green Blue’s Trophy for Individual Environmental Excellence.
Carol Gilles from Toward Sailing Club, Argyll was presented with The
Green Blue’s Trophy for Individual Environmental Excellence by Dee
Caffari, an ambassador for The Green Blue, at a special ceremony held on
the RYA stand at the PSP Southampton Boat Show on Thursday 22 September
2011.
Speaking at the presentation Alan Morgan, President of
the British Marine Federation said: “Carol reflects the very essence of
this award – an unsung hero, passionate and committed to sustainable
boating”
One step at a time
Carol Gilles’ message to other
clubs is: “I would say to other clubs it’s not difficult. You’ve just
got to take it a step at a time. We’ve got a recycling area for bottles;
one for plastic bottles, one for cans and one for paper. It’s an easy
system to introduce. Then you can start getting other messages across,
such as being careful when anchoring, watching wildlife or refuelling”.
Environmental awareness
Alasdair
Finlay, Commodore of Toward Sailing Club, described Carol as always
being environmentally aware and went on to say that “she has implemented
a number of environmental actions at Toward Sailing Club. Environmental
awareness updates are a regular feature of the club’s newsletters, of
which 90% are now electronic, thanks to Carol. She introduced recycling
to the clubhouse, which she monitors on a regular basis and is active in
encouraging members to dispose of rubbish in an environmentally
friendly way”.
The club has encouraged members to fill up their outboard engines as
far away from the shoreline as possible in order to prevent fuel
spilling into the water. Throwing overboard cans or bottles, far less
any plastic rubbish, is now unthinkable at the club.
The award
The
Environmental Excellence Trophy will be an annual award and was
established to honour the memory of Sally Banham, who spent many years
working to improve environmental awareness across the recreational
marine sector. She was instrumental in creating The Green Blue, an
environmental initiative developed by the RYA and British Marine
Federation (BMF). Very sadly, Sally died in 2008. Her sister, Carol and
her mother Angela were present at the ceremony.
For information
and advice on how you can ‘green’ your club go to
www.thegreenblue.org.uk or contact jane.swan@thegreenblue.org.uk
Contact UsArticle Published: September 29, 2011 15:40
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See Also
The Green Blue is the environmental awareness initiative developed by the RYA and British Marine