EarthCheck Silver Status

We’re proud to share that The Headland has been awarded EarthCheck Silver certification for the second-year running, this time with independent verification from Control Union.

What Silver means for us

EarthCheck is a science-led benchmarking programme recognised by the Global Sustainable Tourism Council. It measures how tourism businesses perform across energy, water, waste, carbon and the way they support people and place.

Our entire operation is assessed: 86 rooms, 39 cliffside cottages, our spa, two restaurants and the AquaClub’s six pools.

This year’s audit was carried out by Control Union against the EarthCheck Company Standard and we met the criteria to retain Silver.

From here, the levels rise to Gold and Platinum, earned over many years of consistent improvement.

Over the past year we’ve (to name a few):

• Recycled 5,140 litres of cooking oil into biofuel through Olleco
• Saved 9,102 single‑use glass bottles by switching to in‑room carafes — avoiding 2.32 tonnes CO₂e.
• Reupholstered 37 pieces of furniture just 0.7 miles from the hotel instead of replacing them
• Recycled 88.59kg of in‑room coffee pods and composted our coffee grounds locally
• Replaced plastic pens with Headland pencils, blue roll with compostable brown roll and introduced bamboo key cards
• Continued reducing water use through rainwater collection and expanded our LED and PIR lighting systems
• Given 90% of our team comprehensive sustainability training from Positive Hospitality and 100% of our team received a sustainability induction
• Released 773 baby lobsters through our partnership with the National Lobster Hatchery

A few words from Beth, our Sustainability Lead

“A Grade II Victorian listed building on a headland in Cornwall doesn’t make things easy!,” says Bethany Branigan, Sustainability Lead.

“EarthCheck gives us the benchmark and platform to work from. We can see where we’re performing well and where we can go further. Holding Silver for a second year, after going through the rigorous audit process, shows the changes we’ve made are genuine, and it gives us a platform to keep improving.

“It’s a team effort. The way everyone has embraced the positive changes throughout the hotel is what has made this possible.”