Blue Flag Marina Accreditation
17/02/2020
Next time you’re down by the Westhaven Marina Office, look out for it, you’ll see it flying proudly from the flagpole in front of the office.
For those not familiar, Blue Flag is a globally recognised and trusted certification set by the Foundation for Environmental Education (FEE) that is awarded to beaches, marinas or marine tourism operators who adhere to the strict Blue Flag standards of environmental, educational, safety-related and access-related criteria. So, if you see a blue flag – you know you’re in good hands!
Westhaven Marina is one of just three marinas in New Zealand to have received a Blue Flag accolade, and this year was the 14th year in a row Westhaven received this endorsement.
Heidi from our team managed the process and is proud to announce that “this year we received some great praise on how we manage rubbish in the Marina.”
Westhaven Marina has several locations where rubbish is collected and it is clearly labelled how it needs to be sorted between general, recycling and compost. This practice, although now second nature in New Zealand, is not something that is widely encouraged or practiced worldwide.
This is set to change however. Due to the nature of the Blue Flag programme being global, any positive initiatives, findings and examples found through the accreditation process are shared across the network to be adopted by other applicants. “It’s great to be a part of such an amazing worldwide ecosystem where everyone’s working together to improve.” says Heidi. Heidi is incredibly proud of the work Westhaven Marina is doing and encourages anyone interested in finding out more about the Blue Flag Programme to get in touch with her, she is more than happy to discuss in further detail.
A big thank you to Heidi and her efforts to achieve this for us. For more information on this globally recognised programme, please visit https://www.blueflag.global/