Tag Archives: Seattle
Restaurant Compost: A Green Opportunity for Local Development and Sustainable Business
Posted on 01. Dec, 2009 by Brady Gibson.
One of the biggest challenges facing the sustainability movement is developing a sustainable culture of sustainability, backed by green institutions, systems, and models that can be tapped into by citizens, business leaders, and government officials. Successful models at the local level can translate to city-wide, state-wide, nation-wide, and eventually the global level. This process is a bottom-up emergence of trial-and-error, community awareness, and a participatory culture. While this can fall onto any institution in the United States, this article will focus on composting food waste in the restaurant industry, backed by examples of city-wide programs.
Before we begin, let’s go over a couple snippets of information about the restaurant industry and food waste management:
- The restaurant industry is the second largest employer in the United States, second only to the government. In 2005, the restaurant industry did $476 billion dollars in sales. With over 900,000 restaurants throughout the United States, green business models are emerging as a critical concept in the restaurant industry.
- Restaurants throw away approximately 30% of their food, about $48.2 billion worth a year, according to the Green Restaurant Association. Restaurants also produce far more garbage on a daily basis than most other retail businesses. The development of successful models of restaurant composting programs and policies could redirect billions of dollars of food waste into compostable resources. A typical restaurant generates 100,000 pounds of garbage per location per year, the Green Restaurant Association estimates. However, 70% of wasted food is estimated to be organic and compostable.
If you read through this carefully, you should have felt not only worry but also OPPORTUNITY. Like most industries in the United States, wasteful systems and behaviors are both correctable and adaptable. Not only can restaurants redirect waste from the landfill to local farms and agriculture, a PROFIT can also be made here. A combination of social responsibility, business ingenuity, and government organization can eventually incorporate a comprehensible composting program in the city of Los Angeles (or any city for that matter) with long term impact on the Triple Bottom line.
Currently, the City of Los Angeles has a restaurant composting program up and running, with 650 restaurants participating. The city provides both trash bins and trash removal and restaurants are only responsible for separating waste. The waste is hauled up to Sun Valley (south of Bakersfield) where it sits, rots, and goes through various stages of composting. Three months later, fresh compost is available to local farmers and businesses. Not only does the compost enrich the soil, acting more like a fertilizer, the composter has the capability to cater the compost to different crops! Sun Valley reportedly runs out of this soil all the time because it is in such high demand. With only 650 restaurants out of the total 8,000 in Los Angeles, am I the only one that sees a chance to improve People, Planet, and Profit?
Perhaps we should tip our hats to San Francisco which has composted 620,000 tons of scraps and food waste since 1996. Recycling and composting became mandatory October 21st, part of an effort to divert 75% of waste by 2010 and eventually becoming a zero-waste community by 2020.
In April 2009, Seattle instituted a composting and recycling program to its local citizens. The local government, via King County and the Department of Ecology, initiated a $100,000 campaign in July and it will go to March of 2010. Through active participation and education of its local citizens, Seattle is striving for a positive impact on the environment and setting an example for other cities to follow. Take a look at their compost guide.
One of the biggest challenges in a comprehensive composting program is there is not a long term successful model of composting for restaurants and citizens to follow. Somebody has to take the first step and its starts at the local level. Business leaders at the local level can influence both private citizens and government officials to initiate a global composting system if they can demonstrate an improvement in their triple bottom line.
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Blog Action Day 2009: Preparing Communities for Climate Change through Local Business and Manufacturing
Posted on 15. Oct, 2009 by Brady Gibson.
Today is Blog Action Day! Held on Oct. 15 every year, it’s an event that unites thousands of bloggers worldwide, highlighting a particular issue. This year’s theme is climate change. One of the most salient points regarding climate change and how to prepare for it is green business. With upcoming legislation from local, state, and federal governments for a greener society, business is of the biggest and most adaptable sectors to transition to sustainable systems with a positive impact on the environment.
What is the environment? Perhaps it can be defined in many ways, but let’s look at the environment through the lens of the Triple Bottom Line: People, Planet, and Profit. Of course, you may say “planet” is solely the environment. However, when you take all three into consideration as well as the interaction and interdependencies between and among each one, the environment can be broken down into social, political, business, and private landscapes. Out of awareness for Blog Action Day 2009, this blog will highlight the importance of local business and manufacturing as a generative point for sustainable culture and green business. Let’s look at sustainable communities from the perspective of the past, present, and future.
According to the Global Development Research Center, “making a community sustainable means integrating economic development, community development and environmental protection.” The benefits of local manufacturing and business can improve both economic development and gas emissions. The City of Santa Monica, California started a recent campaign for local business called “Buy Local Santa Monica.” Interestingly, for every 100 dollars spent on local business, an average of 45 dollars stays in the community. The city of Portland, Oregon also realizes the importance of sustainable communities and recognizes its leaders in sustainable business for small, medium, and large business. Recently, the International Trade Administration started a nationwide campaign called “Sustainability 360: An Aerospace Supply Chain Event” to recognized leaders for local business for sustainable manufacturing in the Aerospace industry. The benefits of multiple campaigns aiming to highlight sustainable community development helps share models, tools, ideas, and increases the incentive for businesses to transition to greener operations through public merit.
Here are a few more organizations and companies striving towards sustainable operations through local business, local manufacturing, and community development: Toshiba is currently visiting local communities throughout the country for community clean up and tree planting. ICLEI-Local Government for Sustainability aims to form coalitions of cities and communities that are preparing for climate change. Local Works and the Sustainable Communities Act have provided a legal system to citizens, communities, and councils to press for sustainable community development.
As move into the future, innovation will be the driving force for cleaner and more efficient technology, systems, models, and tools. Luckily, there are leaders of innovation out there actively spreading their ideas to whoever is willing to listen, learn, and act. Take a look at William McDonough’s TED Conference video on designing ecological infrastructures, comprehensive sustainable communities, and business design with positive impacts on the environment. He looks at the intention of our species and the strategy for change. He believes “our goal is a delightfully diverse, safe, healthy and just world, with clean air, water, soil and power–economically, equitably, ecologically and elegantly enjoyed”. He is striving for cradle to cradle design.
As climate change continues to be a significant factor in our society, we must find a way to prepare. The local community is a generative starting point. Businesses, government, and communities at the local level will help organize a comprehensive and working system of sustainable living and long term development. Innovation will help shape and organize future action, however, it must be applied at the community level. Simple and effective actions can have both immediate and long term impact. As the government continues to press for top-down transmission of sustainable development, the local community can generate bottom-up emergence of sustainable development through local business and manufacturing.
