Professionals and a whole territory involved in the sustainable development
Pays de Saint Jean de Monts is the story of an 80% preserved land, large expanses of sandy beaches, a hand-planted pine forest and a full-scale marsh.
Lovers of this playground, around thirty professionals commit themselves daily to a sustainable tourism which respects our environment.
Presentation of our environmental initiative “Engagés pour une destination durable”
We know you adopt an ecofriendly behaviour by accomplishing daily eco gestures all year long. But what happens when you are on holiday?
Are you keen on recycling? Putting glass with glass, plastic with plastic, and separating stoppers? Have you adopted several hens and given them a nice home at the back of your garden? Do you keep repeating to your children to turn off the lights because “you are not living in Buckingham Palace”?
If that is the case, we are certain you will join our environmental cause.
As for the others, aspiring nature lovers, nothing is lost yet and everything is still possible.
This way, we have built a collective initiative at the scale of our territory to satisfy both environmentalists’ and newly nature amateurs’ expectations.
Through their campsite, recreational equipment, holiday resort, real estate agency or retail store, our partners Fabien, Bénédicte and Alain, Catherine, Nicolas, Grégory, Marion and Cédric, Marie, David, Alexandre, Mickaël – and so many more, are committed to our environment.
A gathering of actions
• Henhouse
At Pinèdes de la Caillauderie Campsite, three hens are pecking your organic waste. It is very fun – and educational – for your children who will see this activity as a mission in which they are entrusted to feed Roussette, Plume and Brune every day after your meal.
• Givebox
If despite all your efforts, there is no room left in your car for the body board you had bought for your eldest, nor for your summer novel, nor the rubber boots of your youngest: don’t panic! Thanks to the giveboxes, your summer items are offered a second life.
This concept was born in Berlin a few years ago and has already won over several French cities and 9 accommodation structures in Pays de Saint Jean de Monts: Campsites Aux Coeurs Vendéens, La Loire Fleurie, La Prairie, Les Amiaux, les Pinèdes de la Caillauderie, les Sirènes, le Petit Bois, La Rivière Holiday Resort and L’Orgatte Municipal Campsite. So why don’t you give it a try and offer your items a second life?
• Composting
Composting is an important part of reducing your waste and La Prairie, Les Amiaux, les Sirènes and lately Les Peupliers de la Rive Campsites get that. Today, Patricia, Nicolas and David make their clients aware of putting their organic waste in the composter. This way, holidaymakers can throw away their fruit and vegetable peelings, egg shells and coffee ground, with the help of their “bio-buckets”. Knowing it not only reduces your household waste tonnage but also helps growing plants within the campsite, this action takes all its meaning. And, giving you at the same time the opportunity to enjoy a nice and preserved place to stay on holiday!
• Reusable cups
They don’t hold any secrets from you: you are used to see them during music and village festivals. With or without a 1€ deposit at the snack-bar or welcome parties, campsites such as Pinèdes de la Caillauderie and La Prairie are committed to fighting against disposable plastic.
• Go electric!
Have you fallen under the spell of these little electric cars? So have we! With their cute shape, they are quite the catch. Just take a look at our ZOE! If you are interested in driving around in Pays de Saint Jean de Monts on your holiday, La Rivière Holiday Resort and Super U Supermarket – which is by the way the first ecofriendly supermarket in France – will provide you with electric vehicles charging points. So hop in!
• Let’s talk about local production
Local production is made a priority by our partners, whether it comes to selling you local or organic bulk products (such as Les Chaumes Campsite and Super U) or to holding local producers markets (like La Davière Plage Campsite) or regional collective meals (like La Rivière Holiday Resort). The land of Vendee is full of food specialties for you to taste!
Plus, Explora Parc is serving fair-trade coffee, so treat yourself!
• Little bugs
What would your holiday environment be like without our little bugs? Birds singing in the morning, bees foraging flowers or ants moving mountains … At La Loire Fleurie, La Forêt, Le Rivage Campsites bugs are pampered. They provide insects with the best suited house in a preserved environment, building insect hotels, LPO refuges – Bird Protection League – and other nests.
Moreover, animals from the swamp will be soon welcome at Plein Sud Campsite thanks to the opening of an accommodation area around water and local species.
In addition to this collective, local and ecofriendly action, 5 campsites – Les Amiaux, La Loire Fleurie, Aux Coeurs Vendéens, La Forêt and La Prairie – have entered the 1st global and environment friendly label that is Green Key. Cheers to them!
And for nature enthusiasts, we count no less than 12 partners that are registered Accueil Vélo.
The commitments of our communities
• Our towns are registered “Villages fleuris” (Blossomed Villages)
This scheme rewards not only the plantations but also the work accomplished to improve of the living environment, tourist attractiveness and respect of the environment.
- La Barre de Monts: 1 flower
- Soullans: 2 flowers
- Notre Dame de Monts and Saint Jean de Monts : 4 flowers
• Clean beaches
The sensible beach cleaning in which our coastal towns are enrolled allows a specific cleaning for each beach according to its ecological interest. Plus, if the use of machines is justified on some spaces, a manual cleaning will be favoured on others. Indeed, the foreshore is essential to the survival of the local fauna and flora, and only a few beaches will be cleaned of anthropogenic wastes – such as plastic bottles, cigarette stubs, cans… And, don’t be surprised if you find pebbles, seaweed or driftwood on our beaches: they are alive too!
And since we love involving the beaches aficionados, we have set up a dozen of tidal bins on the coastline so that walkers can throw wastes found on the beach from fall to spring. It is a good way to alert one another to the protection of our environment.
• Give your waste a second life thanks to L’Eco recyclerie!
Based in Soullans and supported by its collectivities, this organisation combines protection of the environment and solidarity. If you no longer use your old bike or if your old couch takes too much space in your garage or your grown kids no longer play with their old toys, this recycling centre is made for you. From Monday to Saturday, you can drop off your items: the team – made of employees, persons in professional integration and volunteers – will sort them out, put them back in shape and display them on their themed shelves.
The shop is open on Mondays (1:30pm-5:30pm) and during the day on Wednesdays and Saturdays (9am-12pm/ 2pm-6pm).
Address: Eco recyclerie, 10 rue des Acacias – Soullans
Plenty of other actions are organised by the collectivities to save our coastal environment. You can find them on these following links:
https://www.saintjeandemonts.fr/environnement-nature-ecologie.html
https://www.labarredemonts-fromentine.fr/agir-pour-lenvironnement/lengagement-communal/
http://www.soullans.fr/listes/environnement/
