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We buy our breakfast and snack items locally so that our guests may enjoy the utmost quality while simultaneously supporting local business. Here is a current list of our breakfast vendors:
+ Chatham Jellies & Jams, Cape Cod chathamjamandjellyshop.com
+ White Heron Tea, Organic, Fair Trade loose teas whiteherontea.com
+ When Pigs Fly Bread
sendbread.com
+ Dancing Deer Bakery cookies & cakes dancingdeer.com
+ Jims Organic Coffee, also fair trade jimsorganiccoffee.com
+ Westfield Creamery cheeses
chevre.com
+ Smith’s Farm cheeses smithscountrycheese.com
Shampoos, soaps, and lotions are provided by eco-friendly companies and are available to guests in dispensers to avoid the small packaging of individual bottles.
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We always urge our guests to travel by public transit and not rent cars unless their destination is not met by our transit system. We provide directions to reach us on foot from various places, give subway (“T”) maps away at our front desk, and have a metropolitan map of Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority routes in our front hall for guest and staff use.
mbta.com
We promote the cultural, shopping and dining opportunities that exist within walking distance of our house in three of the squares of Cambridge (Central, Harvard and Inman Squares). Our bulletin board features current cultural activities that can easily be reached by foot or T.
The owner of Irving House was among the first to advocate for shared van services from the airport to Harvard Square hotels. There are now several shared van services.
For many years, we have been offering discounted public transit passes to our employees.
We provide a locking area for bicycles at the back of the house.
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We have been recycling for many years and provide ways for guests to participate in our efforts to reduce our trash stream.
We seek ways to reduce the packaging of products we use through buying in bulk, using dispensers, and reusing packaging whenever possible.
We purchase products made from recycled materials: rugs, printing paper, disposable cups, reusable cups, picture frames, fabric—all sorts of things!
Where possible, we look for ways to reuse things that have become too shabby for prime time. We have old furniture reupholstered; we make pillows from scraps of material that still have some life in them, etc.
When items are simply not usable in our houses, but still have some life, we donate them to local charities.
We compost our food waste and encourage guests to do the same with designated composting bins in our breakfast area.
Guests may share the use of a refrigerator so that they do not need throw out their delicious leftovers from dinner.
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We use energy-saving light bulbs in all of our light fixtures that accommodate them.
In 2006, the EPA awarded us their Energy Star Label. Our main house at 24 Irving Street is one of only 3,000 buildings in the US to have such a designation as of March 2007.
In addition to the measures we had already taken that were noted, we later made more energy-saving improvements to our heating and hot water systems that were suggested by the inspector.
As a member of Project Planet’s water-saving initiative, we give our guests the option of reusing their towels and sheets to save on water and heating of water costs.
Our laundry facilities are energy efficient and we use phosphate free detergents.
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