Restaurant Composts Food Waste (VIDEO)

I started composting at home almost 2 years ago. My plan was to build a few vegetable garden beds, start growing some of my own food, and go from there. For my small gardening endeavors in the past I've used fish emulsion, coffee grinds, and egg shells as my typical sources of 'food' for my food. But it was time to step it up a notch. I wanted organic matter to build my soil, so what better way than to create my own.

It was easy to do. Next to my sink I have a handy container to hold the grinds, eggshells, carrot tops, uneaten bread crusts, and more. At the end of the day I add those organic ingredients to the compost bin, throw in some grass clippings or fallen leafs (depending on season), give it a mix, and let nature take over. What really surprised me, after doing this a few weeks, was how the amount of garbage going into my city collection bin was drastically reduced - by nearly half!

That got me thinking... What about restaurants? What do they do with all their leftover, uneaten food? What if they composted it? What's involved - is it that big of a deal? Why isn't every food establishment doing this?

I visited restaurateur Kathleen Hagberg, owner of the bijou, café in Portland, Oregon, to get her perspective of why she composts and why others do not. She says doing by example is always important, and ultimately, for the folks at the bijou, "It's as easy as throwing out the garbage."

What makes it possible is the cooperation between city officials and local businesses to provide the local infrastructure. In 2005, Portland's Office of Sustainability partnered with Oregon Metro to tackle the issue of the large amounts of food waste going to landfills. The result was Portland Composts!, a program designed to help restaurants and other food institutions learn how to easily incorporate a composting system into their business. In addition they connect interested parties with commercial waste haulers who collect and take the organic matter to a commercial composting facility in Washington.

Turning organic waste into a useful product, and at the same time helping to reduce carbon emissions provides an excellent example for other municipalities to follow. San Francisco recently made recycling and composting mandatory within the city limits.

Who'll follow, I wonder?

Originally posted on Cooking Up a Story

 

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Comments

[Eleka bobV]

It's a bit dangerous to eat in a restaurant. Never know what the consequence would be

[BannedNBoston]

Great idea we need more composting.
Huf post keeps deleting my post on NH and VT being bombared by chemtrails each day.

[Pem3]

Sounds like a great idea when I worked in the food industry we threw a way a lot of recyclable stuff. Maybe if we gave the industry an incentive and made it easier for them it would catch on quickly, maybe a garbage credit.

[Rebecca Gerendasy - Huffpost Blogger]

Different communities will have different needs and challenges to make it work. Keeping open to ideas - such as yours - will be important toward making something such as commercial composting possible, viable, and sustainable.

[VermontVoter]

Great story! In Hardwick, Vermont, we at Claire's Restaurant and Bar (www.clairesvt.com) are fortunate to be within 15 miles of most of the farms and artisans who supply food for our kitchen. In turn, we compost and recylcle nearly everything from the restaurant, with compost going to the Highfields Institute, just up the road from us (http://www.highfieldsinstitute.org/closetheloop.htm) and from them, back to High Mowing Seeds and to local farms, starting the cycle all over again. In total, we have only about 1 household size bag of trash a week, though we are open 6 days and serve up to 170 guests on a busy night.

[Rebecca Gerendasy - Huffpost Blogger]

Wow - and Bravo! You do an awesome job of composting and recycling to have only 1 bag a week. What a great program Highfield's has grown, too. It's amazing (and good to know) the partnerships that come together over this subject of recycling and composting. Really, when it comes to food waste, there ought to be very little.

[Mike4Obama]

Didn't I see a story about your town on discovery? It was a pretty creative system that I wish would take hold across this country.

It could be done.

[Rebecca Gerendasy - Huffpost Blogger]

I didn't see the one on Discovery, but there was a very interesting portrayal on PBS.

Portland, and the state of Oregon, has been working toward a more sustainable way of living for decades. Much of what is going on today started in the 70's. You're right, it can be done, but it takes people coming to the table, talking, and taking action. Here's hoping it does take hold!