Less Waste, More Nature – Help Us Keep Rock Farm Green

This is a Shout Out to our Green Minded Guests

At Rock Farm Slane, caring for the environment has been part of everyday life since we started in 2013. As a working organic farm and GSTC-certified ecotourism destination, we’re always looking for ways to reduce our impact on the beautiful countryside around us.

One of our biggest challenges is unnecessary and poorly segregated waste.

In 2025, we recycled or composted 67% of our waste, up from 57% in 2024.

We’re now working towards a target of 75% in 2027 while also trying to reduce the overall amount of waste we produce.

And we’d love your help!

Think Before You Pack

Whether you’re joining us for a family getaway, hen party, wedding or celebration, a little planning makes a big difference.

Consider how much packaging, food and disposable material you bring with you. Choose reusable decorations, avoid unnecessary single-use plastics, and try not to overbuy food and drink.

For parties and celebrations, reusable bunting, tableware and decorations are much kinder to the environment than balloons, confetti and disposable party accessories. StopFoodWaste has a useful article for planning waste reduction around celebrations.

Remember, the easiest waste to deal with is the waste we never create!

Composting Right Here on the Farm

We have HOTBIN composters close to the accommodation areas where you can deposit food scraps (excluding meat/fish, bones and citrus) into valuable compost for the garden areas.

Please help by separating fruit and vegetable peelings (except citrus), tea leaves, coffee grounds, eggshells and other suitable plant-based kitchen scraps into the designated green compost collection containers. Our team will take care of the composters.

Meat, fish, bones, citrus fruit and biodegradable wipes must stay out of our HOTBIN system and need to be deposited directly in the brown bins beside the kitchens.

If in doubt, put the food waste into the brown bins rather than using the black bins whose waste goes directly to landfill.

Recycle More, Waste Less

You’ll find clearly labelled recycling, food waste, glass and general waste bins around Rock Farm.

Please make sure all recycling is clean, dry and loose before putting it in the blue recycling bins. Food-contaminated packaging can spoil otherwise recyclable materials.

We’d also encourage you to take empty glass bottles and jars home for recycling wherever practical. Otherwise, please use our dedicated glass bins.

Give Your Bottles and Cans Another Life!

Ireland operates a deposit-return scheme for eligible plastic drinks bottles and cans. You can reclaim 15c on containers from 150ml to 500ml and 25c on containers over 500ml up to 3 litres at the Centra/Mimnagh’s on the Main Street in Slane.

Alternatively you can bring them to Rock Farm Reception, clean, empty and uncrushed, with their labels and barcodes intact. We’ll return them in support of the Re-turn for Children campaign.

🔋Recycle Your Batteries 

Rock Farm Slane is also a WEEE Collection point. If you have used household batteries, please bring them to Reception for safe recycling. 

Help us keep these items out of general waste!

Planning for a Group Booking or Celebration

We love having groups to stay at Rock Farm, but they are often the largest source of waste production onsite. So we’ve created a Low-Waste Party Checklist for your next celebration at Rock Farm.

Low-Waste Party Checklist

☐ Nominate one person to coordinate the group’s food and drink shopping

☐ Plan meals and use a portion calculator before shopping

☐ Confirm how many people are attending each meal

☐ Check which decorations and equipment members of your party already have

☐ Choose reusable decorations from Vinted or FreeCycle rather than disposable party accessories

☐ Avoid individually packaged food and excessive bottled or canned drinks

☐ Make a plan to take leftover food, drinks and decorations home that you can donate to your local FreeCycle group or sell online via Vinted

Small Actions, Big Difference

By thinking about what you bring, separating your waste, recycling, returning and reusing correctly, you’re helping us reduce collections, make compost on the farm and protect the beautiful surroundings of the Boyne Valley.

Thank you for helping us keep Rock Farm Slane green! 🌱