Puy du Fou is a renowned French theme park that celebrates great moments in French history and offers accommodation reminiscent of a variety of eras.  Located in Les Epesses in the Pays de la Loire region of Western France, Puy du Fou stages live entertainment spectaculars that attract more than 2 million visitors per year.

For a decade the dedicated green team at Puy du Fou have worked to continuously improve the sustainability performance of the park, which has now been successfully awarded Green Globe’s highest level of achievement, Platinum Certification.

This ten-year journey of environmental performance and social consciousness has delivered many impressive achievements. We celebrate the theme park’s Platinum award with an insight into some of the most astounding stories from Puy du Fou’s devoted management and staff.

Catering and local produce
How does Puy du Fou reconcile the challenge of keeping 2.3 million annual visitors well-fed while meeting the demand for genuine quality? And how can Puy du Fou make sustainability one of the major components of its catering? The key to the park’s success is their eco-responsibility compact with suppliers and visitors.

Romain Burkli, Puy du Fou's Catering Manager provides insight into this process, “We buy our food in a closed circuit. It is a strong and natural commitment for us and has always been part of our philosophy. We rely on local producers and by ‘local’, I mean within a radius of 5 to 10 kilometres, so this is ultra-local. We call on animal breeders, market gardeners and farmers that are located in this footprint of less than 100sq kilometres, to supply 70% of Puy du Fou’s total produce.

“We manage 26 restaurant outlets at Puy du Fou. Our visitors' expectations are different, and it is up to us to satisfy them. For example, by relying on a local cattle breeder, we manage to offer our visitors a wide variety of beef cuts in our different restaurants, while adapting our menus and being inventive with our recipes. The local breeder for Puy du Fou’s beef, lives and operates on Puy du Fou grounds and this greatly assists with lowering transportation costs and the associated carbon footprint.

“The Coopérative des Epesses (the local commune where Puy du Fou is located) supplies 60% of our potatoes. It is also a local producer who delivers yoghurts for our breakfasts. Additionally, we have centralized our vegetable purchasing with our Carré Maraîcher du Puy du Fou (Market Square Garden) where Jérôme Vrignaud and the team of gardeners produce radishes, tomatoes, courgettes and aromatic herbs.”

Garden team and natural environment
In the heart of Vendée Bocage, at a bend in the theme park's countless pathways, the Carré Maraîcher du Puy du Fou immediately radiates the charm of organic farming. The vegetables and fruit are the object of very special attention and demonstrate true respect for the land.

Jérôme Vrignaud, Director of Nature, Landscapes and Gardens explains, "Here, we let the soil speak, we take the time to observe and we listen to the elders too. We do more than just organic, we do authentic.

“Under the mulch, which protects our plants, we have installed a lot of drip irrigation. The watering times and volumes are determined by hygrometric sensors and programming systems. It seems to work well, as last week we harvested more than 250 kg of strawberries from our 5000 plants; and since 2018 we have produced 4.6 tons of strawberries.”

Puy du Fou’s care and maintenance of natural areas and crops has always been based on a ‘zero-phyto’ commitment, that is organic with no chemical pesticides. The team of 45 gardeners and landscapers who work all year round at Puy du Fou, have been completely eco-responsible since the parks’ inception. Fertilizers come from nature and ecosystems are developed based on the natural food chain.

Related to this environmental sustainability is the management of waste and composting. Through its dedicated, on-site sorting centre, Puy du Fou manages the recovery of all recyclable products, and separates this material from the organic waste which is composted for parks and gardens. This effort is supported with more than 600 waste separation bins throughout the park. And on top of this, the theme park has made great progress by increasing the "compost-ability" of waste. Today, cups, cutlery, and boxes are all made from bio-waste material, with just under 100% of packaging being recyclable or in many cases compostable.

For visitors to Puy du Fou, the expansive forest setting is also a wonderful chance to engage with nature. Twenty-five kilometres of paths stretch through 150 hectares of forest made up of 150 species of trees. In this sanctuary there are countless opportunities for beautiful, natural encounters with an additional 5,500 plant varieties and 5,000 rose bushes covering 95 different species, along with 60 types of aromatic and medicinal plants.

Wildlife preservation and the Falconry Academy
The Puy du Fou Falconry Academy is not only devoted to the presentation of its truly moving live spectacular, Le Bal des Oiseaux Fantômes, but has another, more altruistic ambition with three key missions. First is the protection, preservation and conservation of bird life which includes the reintroduction of threatened species into their natural environment. Second, is raising public awareness, including the Discovery Workshops and the Save the Vultures operations. And finally, the support for projects around the world, which has delivered, since its inception, over €700,000 in donations to numerous associations, including EWT South Africa, VCF Vulture Conservation Foundation, Bioandina Argentina, and many others. And not forgetting the Junior Academy, via the Puy du Fou Association, which takes in twenty young volunteers to initiate and train them in falconry. 

For Fanny Blais, Educational Manager at the Puy du Fou Falconry Academy, the theme park’s careful process of wildlife care is similar to protected reserves that encourage the reproduction of animals and their reintroduction into a natural environment.

Fanny explains, “Our Falconry Academy shows do not harm reproduction, but in fact bring about birth of young that can be reintroduced to the wild. The release of a young Ural Owl last summer in Bavaria in the heart of the Black Forest is an example of this virtuous circle of reproduction and release. The Owl was raised by her parents at Puy du Fou, then placed along with other Ural Owls in a release aviary in the Black Forest, equipped with an open ring and an Argos beacon,” adds Fanny.

For more information about the decade long Platinum Certification journey of Puy du Fou visit: https://www.puydufou.com/france/en/our-promises

Contact:
Clémence Germon
Attachée de presse
Tel : + 33 (0)2 51 64 24 23  /  07 86 38 85 00
Puy du Fou France - CS 70025 - 85590
Les Epesses – France
CGERMON@puydufou.com
www.puydufou.com

Bradley Cox
Director Communications
Green Globe Certification
1223 Wilshire Blvd. Suite 925
Santa Monica, CA 90403 / U.S.A.
Phone: +1-310-337-3000 ext. 105
Skype Direct +1 760 536 6581
Mobile +61 400 848 746
bcox@greenglobe.com
www.greenglobe.com

About Green Globe Certification
Green Globe is the worldwide sustainability system based on internationally accepted criteria for sustainable operation and management of travel and tourism businesses. Operating under a worldwide license, Green Globe is based in California, USA and is represented in over 83 countries.  Green Globe is an Affiliate Member of the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO). For information, please visit www.greenglobe.com