The environmental impact of the restaurant industry is massive. The Green Restaurant Association estimates that, on average, each American restaurant produces 50 tons of garbage each year, uses 300,000 gallons of water, and consumes more electricity than any other type of retail business.
In the Portland metro area, which according to City Observatory has more restaurants per capita than all but two other U.S. metropolitan areas, that’s a considerable environmental impact.
Some local restaurant owners are trying to change that by partnering with the Green Restaurant Association, or GRA, to find ways to make their operations more sustainable.
Food waste is a main culprit in the amount of waste restaurants send to the landfill. Americans waste 40 percent of their food supply, according to the Natural Resources Defense Council, and restaurant diners are no exception. Additionally, cardboard boxes, beer bottles and other recyclables end up in the garbage when employees aren’t diligent about recycling.
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According to the association, close to 95 percent of restaurant waste could be recycled or composted.
“We are, quite simply, not using our resources in an intelligent way,” said Michael Oshman, founder and CEO of GRA. “Let’s look at the issue of garbage. As a species, we spend huge amounts of money and water and trees and oil to make things and then throw them into a big pit (a landfill) that’s going to sit there for decades, centuries, millennia.”
Oshman founded the GRA, an international nonprofit, in 1990 and has gone on to pioneer the “green restaurant” movement, calling itself “the leading voice within the industry, encouraging restaurants to green their operations using transparent, science-based certification standard.”
Oshman’s organization has developed a certification program that is now widely circulated, including within large companies such as Microsoft, which implemented the GRA’s standards into its Redmond campus’s corporate dining program, feeding more than 50,000 employees.
Oshman’s strategy is to look at industry trailblazers – such as Microsoft – in order to establish environmental leadership and hope others will follow suit. Oshman estimates that more than 800 restaurants in the United States and Canada are green-certified, and if you add manufacturing and distributing – the other two pillars of the GRA – his network extends to more than 40,000 establishments.
The GRA’s system is based on “green points,” a collection of standards that reflect 25 years of research on the impacts the restaurant industry has on the environment. Restaurants can achieve star levels by improving their sustainability in seven categories, such as water efficiency and waste reduction and recycling. Once a restaurant signs up, the GRA provides a professional consultant who offers expertise with regard to obtaining green points. Oftentimes, the GRA can point them to products and services that are already in their distribution network: for example, napkins that are made from recycled materials.
“We often discover many restaurants have 20 steps they’re already doing. They already have 52 green points, and then we go on to help them with their distributors because we know the products,” Oshman said.
Though there is a small fee involved in the certification process, often around $50 per month, Oshman said restaurants end up saving much more in the long run because going green is not only good for the environment; it’s good for a restaurant’s bottom line.
“The argument for sustainability is so clear. You may spend a little more on a more efficient dishwasher, and care less about the environment, but your business will spend less money over a long period of time by encouraging efficiency. Business and sustainability are one and the same. This is why you have major corporations powering their operations using solar. Society has shifted,” he said.
By making small, “green” changes, businesses can save. For example, switching out incandescent light bulbs for LED lights presents effective cost saving. While LED bulbs are more expensive up front, they typically use about 25 percent to 80 percent less energy and last three to 25 times longer, according to energy.gov. Restaurants can also save money by composting their leftovers and unused food instead of throwing them in the trash. Additionally, using hand dryers in bathrooms contributes zero waste and utilizes minimal electricity – all of which contributes to cost savings for restaurants.
“I’m not a tree hugger,” Oshman said. “I’m a business person.”
Widmer Brewery is one of five green-certified restaurants in Portland, along with four Bamboo Sushi establishments, all of which have 3-star ratings. (GRA rates restaurants up to five stars, with the fifth star designation titled Sustainabuild.) They all amassed green points for things like serving vegetarian and vegan dishes, using energy-efficient appliances including LED lamps and recycling food waste.
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On a tour of Widmer’s North Russell Street location, the brewery’s sustainability manager, Julia Person, pointed out numerous examples of their eco-friendliness, from a newly installed herb garden to a poster of their “Sustainability Story” and a comprehensive recycling guide. Out of their five dumpsters, only one is for garbage; the other four are for compost and recycling. In their employee area, a sign touts their reusable takeout container program for on-campus meals, an effort to reduce the 3,000 annual to-go containers that formerly went to landfills. They also have a bucket where employees can drop off their recycled batteries. All this earned them a 3-star rating with the GRA.
Widmer Brewing has been green-certified for almost five years, which has, “improved our business because we’re being so efficient in our resource usage,” Person said. “We’re using less money because our energy costs are lowered and we shop locally.”
When asked if there were any downsides to their commitment to sustainability, Person conceded there are some challenges.
“It can be time consuming, to research all these products and verify items,” she said. “We’re a busy restaurant. GRA helps with that by giving directions with information we need on alternatives because they will ask their network of vendors.”
Cory Schisler, Bamboo Sushi’s creative director, points to GRA in helping it to create the world’s first sustainable-certified sushi restaurant.
“Overall, we’ll ask their opinion on different products,” he said, referring to GRA. “For example, when sourcing a compostable to-go container or paper product, we’d ask which has more point value in their standards to determine the level of ‘greenness.’”
Bamboo Sushi makes many of its decisions about products and practices with the goal of sustainability in mind, a trend that creates environmental ambassadors from its staff members.
“It’s not the easiest job,” Schisler said. “We put them through a rigorous training program. They have to learn a lot about sustainability and our relationship with the GRA. Our talent pool is smaller, but we hire people based on passion, who have the same values as we do.”
Bamboo Sushi sees its staff as an essential ingredient in advancing its sustainability model.
“If I look at the people coming into Bamboo, I’d say 15 percent are coming in because of our sustainability equipment,” Schisler said. “I’m happy with that ratio because it exposes those other 85 percent to our dedication to the environment. A few more talking points from our servers makes them more educated consumers and makes them ask those questions in other places.”
Schisler points to a specific element that can earn ample green points and is beginning to revolutionize the restaurant world: vegetables.
“One thing we’ve been doing in our menu is to add three more veggie dishes. So we are increasing the amount of things on the menu that are plant-based. People’s tastes change, and you can do a lot with veggies. There are some innovative chefs doing just that.”
Widmer’s next big move, with guidance from GRA, is partnering with an organization called the Surfrider Foundation. Surfrider works almost exclusively through activist volunteers to protect the world’s oceans, waves and beaches. Their model works on activating campaigns that will make the oceans cleaner and more sustainable for marine life and for the humans who want to both preserve the beauty of our seas and participate in activities like surfing. The Portland Chapter of Surfrider, which played an integral part in the bans on both polystyrene foam (Styrofoam) containers and plastic bags, is now focusing its efforts on phasing out single-use plastic straws.
On Aug. 1, Widmer Pub will no longer include straws in any of its beverages, including soda and water, however paper straws will still be available upon request. This “Ditch the Straws” campaign is a pilot program, the first of its kind in Portland, and will take place over the month of August and possibly longer, depending on how well it is received by the public.
Nancy Nordman, a student at Portland State’s Leadership to Sustainability Education program, is a long-time volunteer for Surfrider and a member of the Portland chapter. She said the straw campaign was born out of a planning meeting.
“Over 500 million plastic straws are thrown away every day in the United States,” Nordman said. “These straws end up polluting our oceans and hurting marine life.”
In addition, according to Ocean Conservancy’s International Coastal Cleanup data, plastic straws consistently make the top 10 list of items found on the world’s beaches, and in the last three years, they have reached the No. 5 spot. It is for these reasons that Surfrider is pioneering this campaign, and it has found the perfect vehicle with Widmer, which is working to become an Ocean Friendly Restaurant, a designation bestowed by Surfriders.
“We hope this Ditch the Straw campaign continues to grow in momentum and other restaurants follow suit in implementing a straw-upon-request policy to reduce marine plastic pollution,” she said.
In the end, restaurant business comes down to the consumer, and consumers vote with their wallets.
“The biggest thing a person can do is to let a restaurant manager know that this is something they care about,” Oshman said. “Consumers care, and restaurants need to know that the majority of their guests care about clean air and water and communities. Becoming a certified green helps restaurants do that.”