Sustainability
Sustainability
Sustainability at the Bond Store
The most sustainable building is one that already exists.
The Bond Store was built in 1859 and stood empty for years before we began.
Restoring it – rather than replacing it – avoided the embodied carbon of new construction and gave a building falling into ruin another century of purpose. That decision sits behind everything else on this page.
We are a new business, so we measure our progress by direction rather than perfection. What follows is what we have done, and what we are measuring.
We measure before we claim
We completed the Tourism Emissions Reduction Commitment to Level 3, compiling metered electricity and water data across our first year of trading to produce a verified carbon estimate rather than an intention.
Our first-year footprint is 26.5 tonnes CO₂-e. We hold that as a baseline to reduce against, and we would rather publish a real number than a promise.
We achieved Sustainable Tourism Accreditation through the Australian Tourism Industry Council in June 2026 — independently assessed, not self-declared.
Energy, water and waste
No gas is burned in either apartment. Appliances were specified for low energy use, with induction cooktops rather than gas, drawing on Tasmania’s renewable electricity generation. Wood fires and thick stone walls do most of the heating through winter.
We designed our packaging. Guest provisions are in returnable glassware – jam pots, milk bottles, muesli jars – collected at changeover, washed and refilled. Bath products are refillable dispensers, not single-use miniatures.
We installed an electric vehicle charging point, in a region where charging infrastructure is still thin.
Keeping the money in a town of 500
Stanley has around 500 residents. We tracked every invoice from the restoration by supplier location, and of everything we spent:
• 74% went to 24 businesses within 25 kilometres of Stanley
• 94% stayed in the North West of Tasmania
• More than 99% stayed in Tasmania
Our builder, stonemason, joiner and electrician were all local.
That continues in how we operate. We employ 49 people across our Stanley businesses, and 46 of them live within 25 kilometres.
We recommend all businesses in Stanley to enhance the local spend and guest experience
The building, and the stories in it
Every artwork in the apartments is by someone who lives in Stanley or has a genuine connection to the town. The decorative objects connect to the generations of our family who have worked this waterfront since 1828.
Circular Head was home to the Aboriginal people of north-west Tasmania for thousands of years before European settlement, and that arrival brought dispossession and profound disruption. We acknowledge that history.
We are completing the Quality Tourism Framework’s Connecting to Culture program.
Wildlife
Little penguins come ashore past the Bond Store after dark, crossing open ground within metres of our guests. A torch, a flash, or a person standing in their path can turn a colony away from its own burrows.
Every guest is briefed on responsible viewing before they encounter the birds: no torches, no flash, stay back, stay quiet.
Where we go next
We hold a measured emissions baseline to reduce against. We continue to promote the off season, spreading visitation across the year rather than concentrating it in a few months.
Sustainability is a direction, not a destination.