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We at Banana Farm Eco Hostel understand that sustainability is a way of life and we as a farm should practice what we preach. These are some of our hostel eco-features;

• We have a large farm where we grow our own organic vegetables and fruits. The rest we don’t grow we source them from organic farmers from the village. We keep cows on the farm and we use milk from the cows for making yoghurt while waste from their house is used to produce biogas and electricity.

• 100% of the energy the hostel uses comes from renewable sources. We use both solar and biogas energy and we heat our water with biogas heating system that produces zero CO2 emissions. Our biogas plant tour can be given while you are staying with us.

• We use low energy lighting inside the hostel and we activated lighting sensors in common areas such as corridors and garden.

• We usually urge our guests to bring refill bottles with them as we have refill point for clean filtered water that is sourced from a fresh water spring in our farm. We also offer our guests reusable bottles to buy/ borrow during their stay, reducing the use of plastic by 850 bottles per month. No chemicals are used to treat water. Instead, we use a reverse osmosis and filtration system.

• We have on site facilities for recycling including different disposal containers and information available to guests.

• We recycle old clothes and turn them into amazing canvases for paintings that you can see in the rooms. Old towels are turned into flower pots.

• We have used so much recycled materials to build and decorate the rooms ranging from reclaimed wood logs for beds, tables, chairs and benches and empty bottles of wine for flowers. This all can be seen around the farm

• We are constantly raising awareness about the importance of sustainability, both to our  guests and through our  social networks in and around our village

•  Kitchen waste, dead leaves from trees and food waste is composted on-site for making fertilizer for the garden and farm.
  
• Toilet papers and cleaning products we use are completely biodegradable

• We also have a reuse corner, where guests can leave what they no longer need and take whatever they do.

• For serving breakfast and meals we use ceramic dishes (no single-use anything!)

• Bicycle rentals on the farm. We try as much to promote sustainability among our guests by helping them find ecological means of transport like biking, walking and using local buses. We have painted canvases around the hostel that help guests save water, energy and point out interesting facts about the human impact on the environment.

• Lastly we do offer ecological hiking, bike rides, book exchanges, and guided tours around the farm in the village to support eco-tourism among our guests making them ambassadors for eco travel while on their trips around the world.

While staying at Banana Farm Eco Hostel please take time to learn or see our biogas system. Biogas is a clean and renewable fuel that you can make yourself. You will be able to cook all of your normal meals with it, light your house or even heat your water for shower. Biogas is a type of bio-fuel that is naturally produced from the decomposition of organic waste.

When organic matter, such as food scraps and animal waste, break down in an anaerobic environment (an environment absent of oxygen) they release a blend of gases, primarily methane and carbon dioxide. 

Because this decomposition happens in an anaerobic environment, the process of producing biogas is also known as anaerobic digestion.

We make biogas here at my hostel and we use it for cooking by refilling the gas cylinder to use in our kitchen. We also provide gas to the villagers for free whenever they run out of cooking gas in their houses but they must have special tanks for refilling.

How Is Biogas Made?

Our Biogas is made in a biogas digester. We call it a digester because it is a large tank filled with bacteria that eats (or digests) organic waste and gives a flammable gas, called biogas. The bacteria in the biogas digester need to be cared for like you would care for an animal. If the bacteria have too much or too little food they get sick. You must feed the bacteria every day with a mixture of food waste and water. In addition to biogas, the systems make waste that is rich in nutrients.

Biogas systems make use of a relatively simple, well-known, and mature technology. The main part of a biogas system is a large tank, or digester. Inside this tank, bacteria convert organic waste into methane gas through the process of anaerobic digestion.

Each day, Ali who takes care of the cows feeds the digester with manure and urine from our cows. The methane gas produced inside biogas system is used in our eco hostel for cooking and soon we will start using it for lights and water heating for shower.

Waste that has been fully digested exits the biogas system in the form of organic fertilizer. We use this waste to grow our bananas, vegetables and most of the fruits you have for breakfast/lunch/dinner at our eco hostel. It’s an eco friendly organic fertilizer.