The Royal Hamilton Amateur Dinghy Club has gone green.

The RHADC, founded in 1882 and elevated to royal status a year later, has made a commitment to sustainability with a range of initiatives under the club’s “Think Green” umbrella.

The club has changed its takeout containers from plastic to biodegradable cardboard and its takeout cutlery to reusable wood; installed solar panels on the roof of Mangroville, its Pomander Road, Paget home; executed a clean-up of the RHADC marina in tandem with Keep Beautiful Beautiful to remove items that had been discarded overboard; partnered with Bermuda Gin Company to use their refillable totes; and created an herb garden for use by club chefs.

General manager Cassius Fevriere said: “Beyond Plastic has given us recognition as the first private club to become a Beyond Plastic champion.

“We are proud to display that on our taglines and as part of our signature.

“We had to change a lot of the things we do. The takeout containers were the biggest change and we also changed our coffee brewing – we have gone from coffee capsules to a machine that is bean to cup so it makes fresh coffee.”

He added: “What I’m most proud of as a club is we have created our own herb garden. All the fresh herbs we use in our cooking are cultivated by the chefs. It’s garden to kitchen, so it’s fresh.”

Executive chef Luca Tomasi said the club has planted scallions, basil, peppermint, thyme, peppers and lemon balm for use in sauces, as seasoning on meats, and in pasta sauces and on pizzas.

He said: “Fresh is the best for flavour and it is aromatic, too.”

The solar panels were installed by Alternative Energy Systems.

An app created by Blockchain Triangle, the Bermudian-based fintech company, lets the RHADC track, via an ipad, its daily, weekly, monthly, yearly and lifetime usage of electricity.

The AssetOS platform also tells the RHADC how much energy it has produced, consumed, and exported back to Belco.

Mr Fevriere said: “We invested a large amount to make our club sustainable from an electricity standpoint. When we have a surplus, we send it back to Belco with our reversible meter.

“Summertime is great – we generate a lot more because the days are longer and it helps to reduce our electricity bill.”

Recent Belco price rises mean that the RHADC “still see savings, but not as significant as we expected”.

Mr Fevriere said: “The feedback we have received about our ‘Think Green’ programme is very positive from club members as well as from our committee of management to recognise our achievement.

“It is a feel-good factor. To be recognised by Beyond Plastic was a big step in the right direction for us.”