Going Green - Eco-Friendly At Greenwood Villa, Pinelands

Doing Our Thing for the Environment. At Greenwood Villa we strive to help minimize waste and reduce our overall impact on the Earth, and over the years have implemented the following:

The Worm Factory, Recycling and frequent pickings from the vegetable garden

All the scraps from our breakfast table except for acidic fruit and meat are given to the worms that live in our Worm Factory. Worm composting is a great way to turn kitchen scraps, junk mail and cardboard into high quality, nutrient-rich, dark compost material to your plants, lawns and gardens at a faster rate. No matter where you live, you can recycle year-round with the Worm Factory.

Grey Water

In 2017 Cape Town experienced severe drought, we installed grey water systems to every bathroom and both washing machines over two properties.  When you take a shower at Greenwood Villa the water goes directly to our gardens to keep the grass green and helps us to minimise the amount of water we take from Council to keep the lawns lush.

Rainwater Tanks

In 2017 Cape Town experienced severe drought, we installed a total of 11 rainwater tanks with a capacity of 200 000 litres of water, and 2 backwash tanks for the pools over the two properties. At 6 Welgemeend we have 1 x 5000 L tank, 1 x 1000 L, 1 x 1500 L 1 x 2500 and 4 x 500 Lts.  At 7 Welgemeend we have 1 x 5000 L tank, 2 x 1500 L tanks. The water is pumped into our washing machine, so we minimise our use of Council water and use it in the gardens and to top up the pool levels.

Pool Covers

We have installed pool covers over both pools, in the heat of the day when evaporation is high, we cover the pools to assist save water.  If you want to use the pool when it is covered, please just ask us to open it for you.

Organic Compost & Fertilisers & Veggie Garden

We only use mushroom compost and organic fertilisers. We grow Peppers, Tomatoes, Parsley, Spinach, etc, etc, for the staff to take home when we have plenty. We have granadilla which is used in the fruit salad and have planted many fruit trees, namely, Mango, Plum, Mulberry, Peach, Lemon, Lime, Orange, Nartjie, Fig and a Blueberry Bush, we are waiting with anticipation and trepidation for them all to bear fruit. The lemon Tree at # 7 gives us prolific fruit.