Virginia Department of Environmental Quality

Virginia Green
Hotels & Lodging Facilities

Virginia Green
Serenity's Edge! Romantic Cottages
Thaxton, VA

Virginia Green is the Commonwealth of Virginia’s campaign to promote environmentally-friendly practices in all aspects of Virginia’s tourism industry. Virginia Green has established "core activities" specific to each sector of tourism, and these practices are considered the required minimum for participation in the program. However, Virginia Green encourages its participants to reduce their environmental impacts in all aspects of their operations, and this profile provides a full list of all their “green” activities. These are the activities that guests / customers can expect to find when they visit this facility.

Serenity's Edge! Romantic Cottages

Serenity's Edge is a 51 acre Nature Preserve with nearly 2 miles of private walking trails and three cottages. Elopement weddings, Honeymoon and Getaway packages are also offered.

The concept of Serenity's Edge is to provide guests with the experience of staying in a natural habitat. Being respectful of Nature includes recycling and conserving resources.

The Gazebo is lit at night using all LED lighting. Each cottage has a 20' length of lighting on the decks--powered solely by solar. Walkways are lit using individual solar lights.

Virginia Green Activities

This facility pledges that they:
Offer optional linen service
- Have signage in each guest room explaining the linen reuse procedures 
- Change linens only upon request 
- Train housekeeping staff on our process for optional linen service  
- Track optional linen participation rate 
- Purchase water- and energy-efficient washers and dryers 
- Use non-phosphate, non-toxic and biodegradable laundry detergents 
- Minimize the use of bleach and chlorinated chemicals 
- Use an ozone laundry system that greatly minimizes the need for detergents and saves water 
- Use a service that has environmentally-preferable wet cleaning for dry-clean only items 
- Line dry linens whenever possible 

Recycle
- Have in place clearly marked recycling bins or provide convenient drop-off locations for guests to recycle: 
- Plastic Bottles 
- Aluminum cans 

Reduce solid waste
- Use bulk soap dispensers instead of individual soaps/shampoos in guest rooms 
- Recycle fryer grease 
- Donate excess food from events 
- Use disposable foodservice items that are made from recycled content 
- Reuse scrap paper for notes 
- Reuse or donate shipping and packing supplies (peanuts, bubble wrap, etc.) 
- Use refillable pens and toner cartridges 
- Make double-sided photocopies and avoid making extra photocopies 
- Use electronic correspondence and forms when possible 
- Use reused building materials or those from sustainable sources 
- Perform preventative maintenance on all appliances, HVAC systems, plumbing, and vehicles 
- Minimize use of pesticides and herbicides in landscaping 

Use water efficiently
- Have installed composting toilets 
- Have installed a green roof 

Conserve energy
- Regularly perform preventative maintenance on HVAC system 
- Have installed compact fluorescent light bulbs in all rooms and canned lighting 
- Have adopted a policy/practice to turn off fans, computers, monitors and other devices in unoccupied rooms at the end of the workday or when otherwise not being used 

Serenity's Edge! Romantic Cottages    Serenity's Edge! Romantic Cottages

For more information on Serenity's Edge! Romantic Cottages, see www.serenitysedge.com or contact Paula Tiara at info@serenitysedge.com or 540-947-2468.

For more information on the Virginia Green program, see www.deq.state.va.us/Programs/PollutionPrevention/VirginiaGreen.aspx.

Virginia GreenVirginia Green is a partnership supported by the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality, the Virginia Hospitality & Tourism Association, and the Virginia Tourism Corporation.

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