| I have helped hundreds of restaurants over the | | | | 2) Eliminating their Trash Cans - I've seen quite a |
| past few years move toward zero waste -- a | | | | few sustainably minded business owners eliminate |
| philosophy that encourages the redesign of | | | | or dramatically reduce the size of their trash can. |
| resource life cycles so that all products are | | | | This seems to be a very powerful tactic so long |
| reused or recycled. | | | | as you've already implemented #1 and reduced |
| Businesses pushing toward zero waste focus on | | | | most of your packaging to compostables & |
| reducing waste as much as possible and then | | | | recyclables. By eliminating your trash can, you |
| diverting any remaining waste toward recycling | | | | force customers to think before they discard |
| and composting environments. To accomplish this, | | | | their waste, and when combined with proper |
| I've seen these businesses incorporate 3 major | | | | recycling & composting signage, this can be very |
| tactics: | | | | effective for getting customers to self-sort their |
| 1) Eliminating Non Recyclable or Compostable | | | | waste. |
| Waste - I've seen a variety restaurants and | | | | 3) Employee Education - I've found that |
| cafes effectively eliminate waste that can not be | | | | businesses that are the best at moving toward |
| composted or recycled. For outbound supplies | | | | zero waste actively educate and train their |
| (ones used by customers), many have moved | | | | employees on recycling, composting, use of |
| over to compostable food packaging for their | | | | re-usables, etc. Training is key for answering |
| cutlery, to go containers, cups, bowls, etc. Inbound | | | | customer questions (e.g., which bin does this fork |
| supplies can be a bit more difficult to control (e.g., | | | | go in?) and for the sorting of waste left at tables |
| it's more difficult to force your vendor not to | | | | or in the kitchen. Further, having employees that |
| cover your produce with plastic wrap), but still in | | | | are excited about a businesses move toward |
| many cases restaurants have been able to ask | | | | zero waste will go a long way in embedding that |
| vendors to stop using packaging which is difficult | | | | sentiment into the businesses culture and the |
| to recycled such as Styrofoam. | | | | minds of it's customers. |