It is undeniable the impact on Mother Earth is accelerating at a speed faster than implementations can be put in place to ease it. While our individual efforts can make a difference, think about how much more we can do as a team? At the recent Paris Climate Agreement (2015), 196 nations pledged to implement earth-conservation solutions and collectively improve the world we are living in. When there is governance and accountability, there is a better chance of sustaining such practices.
There is much to be done and it is a concerted effort. Around the world, some for ward-thinking and conscious entrepreneurs are taking measures to reduce their carbon footprint. Will you think about YOUR restaurant’s impact on the world and what will you do?
EUROPESILO RESTAURANT (UNITED KINGDOM)
Working on the ethos of REUSE. REDUCE. SHARE. REPEAT., Silo in Brighton seeks to do food business with respect in mind. It respects the environment, gives honour to the way food is generated for the nourishment of our bodies. This value it upholds drives them to create food the most organic way possible by sourcing locally to reduce logistical footprint and avoid over-processing in their ingredients. Some of its approaches include:
• Creating fermented drinks with foraged and intercepted plants, herbs, vegetables and fruit.
• Using its own flour mill, ancient varieties of wheat are made into flour thereby ensuring zero over-processing in its breads
• Maximise an entire animal as much as possible eg nose-to-tail idealogy
• Up-cycling by innovating materials meant for trash into something that functions
• All produce / products supplied to the restaurant come in re-usable containers
• Food waste goes into an aerobic digester which is also open for its surrounding community to use
ASIA
AMARA HOTEL & SHOPPING CENTRE (SINGAPORE)
The country’s National Environment Agency (NEA) encourages businesses to adopt food waste recycling methods and offers co-funding for it. And AMARA, being a mixed development of hotel and shopping centre; food waste will come from various places. Instead of different collection points, it has worked on setting up a centralised food waste collection point which enables food waste from the supermarket, F&B outlets and hotel to be sent to a single place where all the recycling is done. The method is projected to reduce waste by more than 50% compared to daily disposal to the incineration plant. Segregation of waste has to be done before disposal so that bulky and wet food waste can be handled properly to reduce foul smells.
NORTHERN AMERICA
GARDEN FRESH CORP (UNITED STATES OF AMERICA)
Owners of Souplantation and Sweet Tomatoes which are popular chain restaurants in America, Garden Fresh opted to take measures for a greener operation. Since 2011, it has steadily fitted its 124 outlets in 15 states with facilities that would contribute to expected savings of 2.1 million pounds of waste paper, 7.5 million gallons of water, 4.4 million kilowatts of energy and 3,194 cubic yards of landfill space.Eateries are Styrofoamfree and guests use non-disposable dishes and cutler y to reduce its contribution to landfills and incinerators. To ensure that these principles are practiced as a way of life, Garden Fresh provides educational training to its employees annually. It is now certified by the Green Restaurant Association (an industry-standard for sustainability) as the largest chain restaurant in the United States to successfully meet its criteria in areas such as:
• Energy
• Sustainable Food
• Water Efficiency
• Waste Reduction and Recycling
• Disposables
• Chemicals and Pollution Reduction
• Sustainable Furnishings & Building Materials
www.souplantation.com
SOUTH AMERICA
ELDORADO MALL (BRAZIL)
A novel idea and one that cultivates awareness on the amount of food waste, the mall’s management takes all organic waste generated from its food cour t to turn it into compost. After which the compost is used to grow vegetables and herbs on the rooftop. The mall’s employees take responsibility of tending to the garden and in return they get to enjoy fruits of their labour!
