Cost-Effective Ways of Greening a Restaurants’ Waste
What are the Challenges?
In the United States, as much as 30 percent of food, worth some US $48.3 billion, is thrown away[1] according to a brief authored by the Stockholm International Water Institute, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, and the International Water Management Institute.[2] While food service is only one player in the complete lifecycle from field to fork to disposal, its role is significant. With 945,000 restaurant locations in the United States generating $566 Billion in sales representing 48% of the nation’s total food dollar, the industry’s role in disposing of its organic waste clearly has significant implications.[3]
These challenges are not just environmental. Restaurants face additional challenges stemming from legislation placing restrictions on wastewater quality by municipal and state authorities, mandated carbon emission caps, requirements on the recovery of packaging waste, bans on Styrofoam and plastic bags, “grease trap laws”, and waste water surcharges.
Let us look at ways restaurants can proactively implement environmental and conservation programs that are sustainable to their business model.
Popular Strategies & Costs
The common slogans of the green movement of reduce – reuse – recycle ring true in restaurant facilities as well. How can you reduce your impact on the environment? First start with why it makes sense to do so. By greening your facility you realize tangible business benefits such as:
- Saving money as food recovery and waste reduction efforts decrease waste collection and disposal fees.
- Compliance with legal requirements.
- Enhancing your public relations by presenting a green image of your facility and its practices.
- Protecting the environment that ultimately provides you with the resources you need to run your business.
Proven tactics for reducing environmental impact are readily available to you and new approaches are being introduced each year. This discussion focuses on the topic of organic waste which for restaurants is predominantly food and some packaging materials.
Composting
Composting is a process of aerobic biological decomposition of organic materials to produce stable and usable organic topsoil that does not require disposal. Compostables in restaurants include behind the counter food prep residuals, plate scraps, and any biodegradable eating utensils or packaging. Waste can be reduced significantly through the use of proactive composting.
The amount of compostable material differs depending on the type of restaurant facility.
Quick service restaurants aim for almost zero food residuals and leftovers behind the counter. Since very little food preparation is done in the restaurant and unsold food is kept to a minimum, food waste is kept to a minimum to reduce revenue loss. Whereas in full service chain restaurants, more compostable material tend to be generated because there is more food prep in the kitchen and more plate scraps are returned to the kitchen (rather than disposed of “on the run” offsite).
The composting itself can take place either on-site at your facility or off-site at a composting facility. On-site composting takes the form of having a large composter at your restaurant location and then managing the decomposition process. The advantages of this method are zero cost of transportation of the waste and the ability to use the resulting soil in restaurant operations or sell/donate to others. The disadvantage is the need for the facility to manage the process from beginning to end ensuring the site is pest and odor controlled and the resultant soil amendment is ready for use. Off-site composting entails using a hauler for organics collection and delivery to a composting facility. Existing hauler contracts may need to be modified to include this service which may require an additional fee. While the biggest costs for processing organics is collection and transportation, the costs associated with a composting site are often lower than that of a landfill resulting in an overall cost savings.
Other ways that restaurants are increasing their compostable materials while decreasing waste include using new compostable packaging for food packaging and utensils.
Successful composting initiatives require employee acceptance and training and allotting space for collection containers. Study how these changes affect work flow and then engage employees in creating solutions that work to gain process efficiencies while reducing waste.
With all green initiatives, use it as part of your company’s visibility and public relationship campaign. Announce the program to the community or donate a portion of finished compost to the community grounds or gardens. This helps boost the ROI on your green efforts.
Bio-augmentation in Grease Traps
Grease traps are the plumbing solutions designed specifically to trap solids and greases before they enter the wastewater disposal system. The main pollution problem with grease traps (fats and oils) is its “clogging” ability. These substances tend to clump together, clog drain lines and grease traps causing unpredictable, unpleasant, and costly back-ups.
The conventional solution to this problem was to snake drain lines, pump out grease traps, and transport the waste to dumping sites or incineration facilities. Though effective, it is not environmentally friendly. Another conventional solution involves the use of chemicals to clear these backups. As you might imagine, it is not environmentally friendly, not as effective, and the chemicals used are highly corrosive and dangerous.
A much greener and promising “preventive” option is to use biological, “on site” treatment of grease and fat wastes, called bio-augmentation. By using bio-augmentation, to help eliminate unpredictable backups, you can significantly reduce the amount of oil and grease in the waste (to the values required by the sewage authorities or even lower), and grease trap pumping (by 40%-75%). [4]
How bio-augmentation works is through the introduction of a group of natural or genetically engineered bacteria to treat the contaminated water and solids within the grease traps. This is a passive treatment system to facilitate grease digestion and control buildup of the grease cap. Effectiveness is determined by factors such as retention time in the trap, temperature of the wastewater, strength of the waste, and contact surface area.
Bio-augmentation is cheaper, consumes little energy, and is safer for humans and the environment making it more effective and efficient than conventional methods. As this technology and the market for it expands, careful selection of a vendor is important, as for other commercial products. Things to consider when hiring a vendor:
- Inquire about the scientific credentials of the company (patents, publications, etc.).
- Ask whether the bacterial preparations they use contain sporogenic or asporogenic species (usually it takes much more time for the former to gain their peak of activity). [4]
- Request a list of present customers/clients and call them.
- Ask what guarantees the company gives for its product’s performance.
- Determine if the product is a ‘do it yourself’ application requiring only periodic technical consultations or whether it requires regular biweekly or monthly service.
Reduction & Recycling – Why it Matters
Reduction and recycling of waste is the way to a sustainable future, for your business and the environment. While reducing waste is a strategy that targets the source of excess, recycling, by definition, does not occur until someone transforms or remanufactures the material into a usable or marketable product or material. With that in mind, it is a worthwhile practice to employ the use of post-recycled goods in your facilities operations and packaging. It keeps the natural cycle flowing and is necessary to realize these green benefits on a macro scale.
The role of reduction, reuse, and recycling is a key component as it relates to your company’s public image and corporate stewardship. As shown earlier these strategies can also have a positive effect on the bottom line. As with all business practices, a full assessment of the green options at hand is necessary. To make a decision as to whether these and other green tactics are right for your business, assess:
Do the economics make sense? After a cost assessment and amortization of any capital investments and potential savings, do the numbers add up?
Is this logistically feasible? Considering the floor plan and flow of your business and any hauling requirements, can this strategy be used successfully at your facility?
Will these efforts make a dent in the amount of waste that goes to traditional disposal?
Is my public and regulatory community supportive of composting and bio-augmentation programs?
Conclusion
Reducing waste is naturally good for the business owner and the environment. The idea of either/or is a thing of the past. There is a natural synergy to the way restaurant waste is handled and its environmental impact and the move toward a more sustainable model can be an incremental one. It need not be viewed as a liability but an opportunity to realize cost savings and leave a lasting impression on customers and a greatly reduced impact on the environment.
Notes:
[1] Source: http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/aug2008/2008-08-22-01.asp
[2] Source: http://www.siwi.org/documents/Resources/Policy_Briefs/PB_From_Filed_to_fork_2008.pdf
[3] Source: http://www.restaurant.org/pdfs/research/2009Factbook.pdf
[4] Source: Restaurant Report – http://www.restaurantreport.com/features/ft_bio-augmentation.html