From Guest Blogger Anago: How Can Restaurants Go Green?
All around the world, companies working in different industries are seeing the benefits of going green, whether it is from a purely financial aspect or because they want to help Mother Earth by being more environmentally friendly. The food hospitality trade as a whole is a wasteful industry, due in large part to the considerable amount of water, electricity and paper that a restaurant uses on a daily basis. Thankfully, in recent years there has been a notable change in the amount of restaurants going green in a proactive attempt to curb the amount of pollution and waste that is starting to envelop our planet.
Unfortunately, it is not easy for a restaurant to go green overnight. Although it will take time, effort and money, altering how a company fundamentally operates will help all concerned in the long run, as well as obviously helping out the environment too. With a little training and the right information about what to do and why, a restaurant will begin to see the advantages in switching to a more environmentally conscious way of running their business.
Educate your employees. Without the proper knowledge or training, any significant change to how a company is being run will be met by resistance, reticence or plain suspicion from its members of staff. Therefore, to avoid any time-wasting problems or niggling difficulties in relation to your restaurant making a substantial change and going green, educate every worker over the next few weeks and months. This is not a one-time thing, as this type of training should be an ongoing process that helps to explain and validate what is being done, as well as offering a forum in which your workers can address their own concerns and ask questions. As with many things in life, learning and teaching can help put things into perspective.
Recycle.Becoming eco-friendly typically saves business owners a lot of capital when they make “the green business shift,” and a restaurant can minimize its waste production by recycling as much as possible. If feasible, try to avoid using Styrofoam products, such as coffee cups and take-out boxes. Styrofoam is not biodegradable, making it extremely harmful to the environment. Instead use biodegradable recycled paper products that perform the exact same functions. Furthermore, restaurants are encouraged to practice composting with leftover food scraps, though this will be easier for restaurants that are located farther away from the hustle and bustle of the city rather than those situated in a deeply urban area. Another idea is to print your menus on recycled paper.
Fit low-energy products in your restaurant. If you are looking to upgrade your old equipment or perhaps open up a new eatery from scratch, it is wise to install low-flush toilets and faucet flow-restrictors in the bathrooms and kitchen. Energy-saving fluorescent lighting as well as energy-efficient ventilation installed throughout the property is also a prudent money saver. Never keep the oven on if it is not in use, and don’t use the dishwasher unless it is filled to capacity. In addition, install ENERGY STAR-rated kitchen appliances in your kitchen, such as fryers, steamers, ovens and refrigerators. New ENERGY STAR-rated refrigeration units only use half as much energy as outdated models, while also offering improved insulation capabilities. Read more about ENERGY STAR products and appliances here.
Adopt social media in lieu of paper advertising. Instead of printing up hundreds of flyers and then handing them out on street corners or hand-delivering them all over your neighborhood, utilize paperless advertising through the use of social media platforms. Create a Twitter, Google+ and Facebook account to help increase your online brand presence and, if you are confident that your food literally looks good enough to eat, perhaps you could also create an Instagram or Pinterest account as well. These two social media platforms are more visual, which means that aesthetically appealing meals that look as mouthwateringly delicious as they taste will undoubtedly find an online following. Also, offer discount coupons via email instead of sending out paper vouchers.
Anago Cleveland are proud to offer their green cleaning janitorial services to residents in the Greater Cleveland Metropolitan area, including services for auto dealerships, schools, daycares, country clubs, healthcare facilities, restaurants and movie theaters. Please visit us online at Anago Cleaning Systems today if you would like more information.
Restaurants do use a large quantity of hot water. It takes a large amount of energy to heat water. Much of this energy goes right down the drain after one use. With a drain water heat exchanger this energy can be salvaged and used to preheat the water going into the water heater. Furthermore, he company that makes these units also makes exchangers that will dissipate the heat from refrigeration and air-conditioning units into the same water going into the water heater also. This will help these units run more efficiently than if they were dissipating this heat into the buildings envelope which then has to be removed by the air-conditioning and dissipated into the hot outside air. Also, in the wintertime, a heat exchanger like the ones they use to warm fresh air into highly efficient buildings with the heat from the stale air being expelled could be installed in the line from the range hood and that heat used to help heat the building instead of being blown directly outside.
Lastly, and this takes a little more work, the waste vegetable oil can be filtered down and used to run a generator to make electricity to help run the equipment or burned in an oil heater to provide heat in the winter.
Brian