17:25 ARCHONTIKO Papadopoulou in Kornos today became the first Cypriot restaurant to be awarded with the Green Key, making the island the second after France to receive the prestigious award.
According to Environment Commissioner Charalambos Theopemptou, who handed the award over, the award is traditionally given to hotels. But it recently started to include restaurants as well.
“It sets a series of environmental parameters that restaurants have to live up to,” he explained. “These include staff training, creating substructure and implementing environmentally friendly procedures. For example, you are made to manage your waste and recycle what is necessary, as well as control electricity consumption.”
Theopemptou said this was very positive for Cyprus.
The Green Key is a Programme of the Foundation for Environmental Education FEE.
The Foundation is a network of 72 NGOs from 63 countries. FEE is represented in Cyprus by the marine environmental group CYMEPA.
The Green Key for hotels has been awarded to more than 2,000 establishments in 27 countries. To be awarded with this label, successful candidates must meet different criteria regarding general environmental management, the involvement of employees, environmental information for customers (documents, appropriate signage etc.), water management, housekeeping and cleaning, energy management, waste management, food, nature-based activities, office administration, the interior environment and green spaces.
The label combines environmental performance criteria with environmental management criteria.
In 2011 the first restaurants were awarded with the Green Key in France. Cyprus is the second country in the world to award restaurants with the prestigious ecolabel.
Archontiko Papadopoulou, at Kornos, which is a multi-purpose centre that houses a variety of activities, revolving around wine-gastronomy and traditional pottery art. The restaurant includes a high-level Cypriot cuisine a la-carte restaurant, a coffee shop, a wine cellar specialising in Cypriot wines, a Commandaria bar, a shop selling traditional pots, a library and a pottery workshop open to all visitors.
