Flamingo Casino has recently upgraded their worm farm from 3000 worms to 15 000 worms! They have also replaced the old rubber tyre containers with more effective worm farm containers.

A little more about worm farming: Vermiculture is the technical term used to describe worm farming, and the remnants left after digestion is called castings. Castings are one of the best and safest fertilizers available and it feels and looks like good quality soil. In fact, castings are 5 times richer in nutrients than good topsoil. Made popular by the Mount Nelson Hotel gardens ’worm tea’ is another non-smelly by-product made by soaking castings in water and using the water to fertilize the soil, it is also a natural pest repellent. The liquid that seeps through the material that the worms eat is called leachate, another highly prized brown odourless fertilizer.

The earthworms can be fed:

?Paper
?Cardboard including egg cartons
?Coffee grounds and tea bags
?Vegetable peelings and waste
?Eggshells

There are, however, a few exceptions to what the wors can be fed:

?Pineapple, as it contains an enzyme that will dissolve the earthworms
?Citrus and highly acidic vegetables, such as onions, should be added to their food sparingly
?Green grass clippings should also be added sparingly, as large amounts generate excess heat and produces ammonia which will kill the worms.

You can purchase worm farms from Full Cycle, Wiggler magic worms, Wizzard worms or Organic Solutions. Or you could build your own worm farm.For more info on how to build your own, you can have a look at some of these sites:

1. HOMEMAKERSonline
2. Working Worms

Recently consumers have become even more aware of the environmental impact of modern living, and increasingly seek out companies with a similar commitment to preserving environmental resources.

This is exactly what Flamingo Casino in Kimberley did! Congratulations to Flamingo for receiving a Certificate of Environmental Responsibility from Carpet and Health services for use of the Millicare Dry Carpet Care Programme.

For this programme, MilliCare technicians use specialised products that are designed to minimize the cleaning process’s impact on the environment.  Products have been tested, and proven to be low-emitting and non-toxic.

The MilliCare dry carpet cleaning process can contribute to improved indoor air quality when used with a properly maintained HVAC system.  MilliCare’s dry-centered process also uses very little water – helping to conserve natural resources and extend the life of a carpet, which means it won’t prematurely end up in a landfill.

For more about the programme, visit Millicare’s website: http://www.millicare.co.za/

In June 2011, Flamingo Casino expanded their Vegetable & Herb Garden in order to utilize unused land for the production of food.

Most of the produce is currently used by Squires Restaurant as the produce planted have a very short shelf life. Pumpkin, carrots, corn, tomatoes, onions and potatoes, however, will be planted at a later stage and be used to contribute to various organisations who supply meals to the poor.

The Flamingo Casino celebrated “World Environment Day” on 5 June 2011 by launching “The Bat Zone” in order to contribute to Biodiversity in the Northern Cape Province as well as the Unit. They built and installed a “Bat House” on the Northern side of the Complex in order to attract and house as many bats as possible.

A brochure was distributed to serve as an awareness campaign in order to inform staff and guests of the event .

Once occupied the house should accommodate about 500 Bats. Each Bat consumes on average 1000 insects per day resulting in 500 000 insects being consumed daily. Jaco van Wyk, SHE Coordinator at Flamingo, is of the opinion that they should have a full house soon. Being situated so near to Kamfersdam and having experienced a lot of mosquitos the past summer, he reckons that they will see a huge difference in the coming spring.

Here is some interesting information regarding  the basic rules for putting up a bat house:

• Houses should be placed high enough to allow bats to ‘drop’ down when they exit the house.  Bats need a drop before they actually begin flying. Any height above 1.5 metres would probably be satisfactory.
• The temperature inside the bat house plays a huge role.  Mounting the bat house on a north-west to north facing wall, trying to get about 2 hours sun onto the bat house in the late afternoon, so as to warm it up a little towards the bats’ evening hunting time.
• The colour of the house in South Africa is not as important as in the northern hemisphere. If bat houses are sited in areas that are generally very hot, i.e. the Karoo, then they may be painted a light colour. Houses in other parts in South Africa do not require specific colours besides a good varnish.
• Erecting more than one bat house greatly increases the chances of one being occupied.
• Open-bottomed houses should be positioned in such a way to allow inspection for presence of bats from underneath.

Thanks to Jaco for the information and to the Maintenance & Slots Technical Team who assisted to make this great venture a reality.

Kundiza’s training partner, The Heritage Environmental Management Company (Heritage), has become one of only two environmental certification standards worldwide to be affiliated to the United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO). Congratulations to the Heritage team, we are very proud!

To read more about this remarkable achievement, click below to view the full article:

http://www.travelmole.com/news_feature.php?news_id=1149012

Flamingo Casino contributed to Waste Management Month by placing emphasis on waste separation in their kitchens in order to be able to re-use 100% of their wet waste. Wet waste is either fed to dogs or pigs, with a small amount sometimes having to be incinerated due to glass or steel wool therein. 

Environmental Displays were also placed in the Casino. Here are some of the displays:

Well done to Jaco and the team at Flamingo!! Keep up the good work.

We would like to invite all trainers to share with us the efforts and practices taking place to create awareness and protect mother earth! Please email your stories and accounts to Lourina: lourina@kundiza.co.za

Windmill Casino in Bloemfontein went to considerable efforts in creating awareness on Water Week (21-27 March) as well as for Earth Hour this year. (2011)

Below are some details about the special events that took place at Windmill Casino in the past month:

Water Week
Cobra did a water-saving display of taps, toilets & showers. Windmill also handed out 1000 water saving shower flow regulator (value of R 70 000) to guests and staff members to commemorate water week 2011.  

Earth Hour
Windmill Casino handed out a 1000 candles on Friday 25 March and on Saturday 26 March 10 Biodegradable sky lanterns were released during Earth Hour. Staff showed their support and commitment for Earth Hour by signing their names at the Earth Hour Exhibit.

Thanks to Elmarie at Windmill for contributing this wonderful piece of news and congratulations on the fantastic efforts!

We would like to invite all trainers to share with us the efforts and practices taking place to create awareness and protect mother earth! Please email your stories and accounts to Lourina: lourina@kundiza.co.za

The second edition of Lisa Gordon-Davis’ book, The Hospitality Industry Handbook on Hygiene and Safety, was released earlier this year (2011). This second edition is not just a second edition, it is yet another very succesful publication by Lisa.

This  book on hygiene and safety is intended to assist students and current industry employees to understand and practice the skills they need to maintain healthnand safety at all times in our industry. The book contains lots of interactive learning tools such as newspaper clippings, pictures, photographs and fun activities. 

Congratulations Lisa, on a very well researched and written book!

To learn more about the book  click here

If you would like to learn more about the first edition click here