2.2 The current unsustainable mechanisms

“For the business enterprise, sustainable development means adopting business strategies and activities that meet the needs of the enterprise and its stakeholders today while protecting, sustaining and enhancing the human and natural resources that will be needed in the future.” [1]

Whereas Texel is heading towards a sustainable development, most companies and businesses haven’t still applied any sustainable strategies. All the future strategies must be applied while considering both the economy and the environment in order not to cause any constraints to the opportunities of the businesses.

The current unsustainable mechanisms on the island of Texel are interesting to analyse in order to make a plan to improve them. Some Leisure and knowledge activities and institutes that have unsustainable mechanisms are already mentioned in the summary of the previous chapter. An inventarisation is made of the full list and devided between 4 field: Businesses that produce big amounts of waste, Buildings that consume a lot of energy, Activities that consume a lot of energy, Buildings or activities which have limited unsustainabilities. The activities and institutes that don't have any unsustainable mechanism, according to the inventarisation, will be listed in the end.

Businesses that produce big amounts of waste

At the moment, businesses like restaurants that produce a big amount of waste and consume a large amount of energy are considered to be one of the major unsustainable systems. In addition to this, according to the group ‘Materials and Waste’ the current condition of Texel can be described as follows as far as it concerns the waste management:

-  Waste disposal - Glass, compostable waste, paper, plastics and other wastes are collected separately or policy to collect it separately has been passed. The percentage of separation in Texel is about 50% compared to 61% in comparable districts.
-  Waste re-usage - Texel aims to re-use 70% of its waste in 2020, which is lower than the general Dutch aim of 95% by 2020.
-  Waste water disposal

List of activities and institutes that produce big amounts of waste:

1. 162 cafés and restaurants

Buildings that consume a lot of energy

In the meanwhile, the houses and all the buildings with poor insulation need to spend a lot of energy in order to keep the interior environment comfortable for the inhabitants. Only few of the houses have been refurbished according to new regulations. Most local people refuse to change, as they lack the education and knowledge about the benefits of energy saving.

List of buildings that consume a lot of energy:

1. Toekomst Dance Factory

2. Café De Wijsneus 

3. Other (160) cafés and restaurants

4. Saunas, beautysalons and massagesalons 

5. Museums: House of antiques, Cultural museum, Shipwreck and Beachcombing Museum, Museum of Aviation and War, Whalers house 

Activities that consume a lot of energy

Institutes can also have activities that consume a lot of energy, for example a sauna that needs energy to warm the water, or festivals for the light and music installations. 

List of activities that consume a lot of energy:

1. Toekomst Dance Factory, Café De Wijsneus, Café De Slock, Eetcafé de Twaalf Balcken, Brasserie de Compagnie and Café 't Kombuis

2. Saunas

3. Sarasani pop music festival

Buildings or activities with limited unsustainabilities

There are also some institutes or activities that do not have sustainability as a high priority but also do not consume a lot of energy. Some primary schools already have some PV panels on the roof, but not enough to produce a substantial amount. 

List of buildings or activities with limited unsustainabilities:

1. Primary and secundairy schools: OBS Durperhonk Cocksdorp, De Vlietkotter openbare basisschool (fusion of de Akker en Jacob Daalder), Basisschool Timótheüs Oosterend, Vrije School Stella Maris Den Burg, Jozefschool Den Burg, PCBS De Fontein Den Burg, OBS Jac. P. Thijsseschool Den Burg, OBS De Bruinvis Oudeschild, ABBS Lubertisschool De Koog, ROC Kop van Noord-Holland VAVO MBO, OSG de Hogeberg 

2. Indoor playground De Krim Holiday Park

Sustainable activities or institutes

1. Cycling and walking

2. Ecomare

4. NIOZ

5. Texel beer brewery

6. Going to the beach, Wadd-excursion, Kite surfing and windsurfing, Blo-karting and power kiting, Fishing, Golf and midgetgolf, Shopping, workshops wellness, Hayride, Searching for oysters with the Texel Oyster Man, Treasure hunt at the beach area, Jutters-Experience, Pirate ship, Oudeschild’s marina, Viewing tower 

7. Street Art project ‘t Skildermuurtje,  'Leven van de vis', Lighthouse

Proposing new systems is a great challenge for Texel, therefore a sustainable development strategy is needed to form a framework for systematic thought and empower the island to limit rationally the resources and set a timetable for actions. Texel will benefit from such a strategy both directly and indirectly as it will help to:[2] 

-define the actions to be taken

-analyze all issues (economic, social, and ecological)

-identify and evaluate options for addressing priority issues

-harmonize the policies and strategies

-encourage and facilitate institutional and behavioral change for sustainable development.

 References

1. Business strategies for sustainable development: https://www.iisd.org/business/pdf/business_strategy.pdf, visited on 19-11-2014

2. “Guidance in preparing a national sustainable development strategy: Managing sustainable development in the millennium”: https://drive.google.com/viewerng/viewer?url=http://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/content/documents/nsds_guidance.pdf&embedded=true, visited on 19-11-2014