A New Waste Age for Restaurants
Operators push their recycling programs to the next level.
By Kate Leahy, Senior Associate Editor -- Restaurants & Institutions, September 1, 2009
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| (From top) Chez Pascal’s waste area; the Veggiemobile; Scoma’s celebrates conservation |
By necessity, the trash and recycling area at Chez Pascal in Providence, R.I., is a picture of organization. If cardboard boxes, trash bags or milk crates block the Dumpster on pick-up day, the waste hauler won’t empty it. The same goes for the cardboard-and-paper recycling bin, the two glass-recycling containers and the oil drum.
Paying such close attention to a waste-removal system has its benefits. Husband-and-wife team Matt and Kristin Gennuso know exactly how much they’re throwing away at the end of the week. The tight space also encourages the couple to look for more ways to reduce, reuse and, of course, recycle.
Operators across the country are motivated by very practical concerns, including saving space in trash bins and reducing waste-hauler fees, to ramp up their recycling efforts.
No matter how simple the goal, there’s almost always extra effort required to take the next step. But those who stick with it find satisfaction in knowing that their efforts are contributing to a more-efficient and sustainable era of waste removal.
“With anything you do in this arena of sustainability, you have to know that sometimes you’re going to run into a wall,” acknowledges Chris Koetke, dean of the School of Culinary Arts at Kendall College in Chicago, which manages comprehensive recycling and composting programs in a city where neither is common.
“You just need to work through it. That’s also the beauty of it, because at the end of the day, you know you’re doing something that’s good.”
Down in the Dump
For the Gennusos, who have recycled glass since they opened four years ago, renewed interest in their restaurant’s recycling program came after visiting the local landfill.
“What we got out of the tour was that we could do more to recycle,” Matt Gennuso says. They also found an ally: A representative from the landfill visited Chez Pascal to find more ways for the restaurant to recycle. “That’s when we got into recycling cardboard,” Gennuso recalls.
Today all cardboard and paper is diverted from the trash into a recycling bin. The change, which allowed the restaurant to cut trash pick-ups from twice a week to once a week, generated savings of $125 a month. Waxed boxes that can’t be recycled are reused by local farmers for their deliveries. Gennuso also is asking vendors to reduce or reuse packaging. “I’d love to see a lot less cardboard coming through our doors,” he says.
Clunkers for Cash
In an era of hybrid and downsized vehicles, the purchase of a 1984 Chevy Blazer in the name of going greener would seem illogical at best. But the diesel-fueled SUV, purchased last year for $600, was just the right fit for San Francisco-based Scoma’s fledgling oil-recycling program.
Before buying the Blazer, the two-unit, seafood-focused concept had had a rocky entry into the biodiesel field. A bad batch of biodiesel purchased from a third party meant costly repairs for one delivery van. But Scoma’s maintenance team converted the Blazer’s engine so that it can run on fryer oil that’s filtered at the restaurant.
If the engine conversion hadn’t worked, the restaurant would have been out only $600, less than the cost of the van’s repairs. But it did work. Today, Scoma’s president, Tom Creedon, uses the vehicle (dubbed the Veggiemobile) to shuttle between Scoma’s San Francisco and Sausalito locations.
“It doesn’t necessarily have an impact on the bottom line,” acknowledges Mariann Costello, Scoma’s vice president. “But it’s the right thing to do.”
Although the practice is at times a tad bureaucratic (the restaurant pays excise tax on the fuel it generates), Scoma’s, which already has comprehensive composting, recycling, and energy- and water-reduction programs in place, sees oil recycling as another step in its effort to reduce waste. The next goal is to expand the number of Veggiemobiles.
A Critical Mass
Most recycling advocates acknowledge that it takes more than the efforts of individual restaurants to ensure that recycling (and later composting) becomes commonplace. To do so, it’s important to build local awareness. For green-minded, Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-based Pizza Fusion, the first step is training staff to reduce trash and reuse materials. The next step is encouraging customers to get involved. Tokens of appreciation, such as taking 25 cents off an order for every pizza box a customer returns to the store, might be small, acknowledges Vaughan Lazar, Pizza Fusion’s CEO. But, he says, “It sets the tone that you’re doing the right thing.”
Not all cities offer comprehensive recycling programs, much less fledgling composting programs, though. Says Kendall’s Koetke: “We have a lot of power to shape public opinion. To a degree, this is a whole question of supply and demand. If people are demanding it, there will be supply.”
Contact writer at: kate.leahy@reedbusiness.comkate.leahy@reedbusiness.com
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They weren't recycling cardboard! Welcome to the 21st century...
D. Rigby - 9/14/2009 5:07:00 PM PDT -
The grease in the grease and grit traps have a bio
fuels characteristics, that restaurants can leverage
today with minimal investment, or out sources to a 3rd
party to handle for the waste management.
When the septic/grease trap is cleaned every 30 - 90
days depending on type of waste processor arrangement
your state has, the product can be separated into bio
diesel when mixed with crank case or motor oil.
The process is a bit more complicated, but not much.
The fees associated with creating a fuels source
(estimated at ~ $0.20/gal) plus reduction in the amount
of waste sent to the land fill is an attractive off set
to your bottom line.
With centrifugal technology, you can actual produce
cleaner water than is currently in the streams and
reduce even more waste – up 75% or more that goes to
the land fill – it’s a great and truly sustainable
technology.
Mark Hill - 9/14/2009 10:55:00 AM PDT
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