Environmentally Responsible Restaurants

by Megan DiPerri

Restaurants everywhere seem to be turning over a new leaf; a green leaf. I'm not just talking about the salad specials either. The term "green certified" is becoming ever popular among restaurant owners and dishing up a healthy, locally grown, organic menu is only the tip of this iceberg. Reducing energy, increasing recycling and composting, eliminating the use of polystyrene foam products, implementing green construction and green energy practices; restaurants are looking to become green inside and out. 

When, according to Pacific Gas & Electric, 80% of the $10 billion dollars that the commercial food service sector spends annually for its energy use is lost in inefficient food cooking, holding and storage, it's no wonder restaurants are trending green.

So, how are these restaurants achieving this "green certificate"? Organizatoins such as the Green Restaurant Association, a non-profit national environmental organization based out of Boston, MA, are educating restaurants on a number of environmental practices to become more sustainable. Their motto: "where doing good for the environment is also good for your bottom line". The GRA provides research, consulting, education, marketing, community organizing and offers an 11-step guidline program to certify restaurants as "green".

Locally, Boston Green Tourism has teamed up with the GRA to get the word out to consumers and increase the number of GRA-certified restaurants. There are already 18 green certified restaurants in the Boston area!

The National Restaurant Association is also making great strides to educate restaurants on how to implement environmentlaly sustainable business practices. In fact, the NRA recently launched a new website that offers conservation tips, ideas on green building and the opportunity for restaurant owners to chat and share their thoughts on the topic. The NRA hopes to "nudge owners of the nation's 945,000 restaurants to think about controlling energy use and waste creation." One can only imagine what kind of impact even slight change could have.