On December 1st, 2011, the Green Dining Alliance (GDA) launched a new certification program aimed at St. Louis restaurants. An initiative of St. Louis Earth Day, the Green Dining Alliance is committed to working with local restaurants to reduce their environmental impact and adopt sustainable initiatives. By considering all areas of operations, the program puts strong emphasis on reducing, recycling and composting restaurant waste, as well as sourcing sustainable food, to-go ware and cleaning supplies.
A view of Schlafly Bottleworks’ on-site garden.
This week, Schlafly Bottleworks became the first member restaurant in the Green Dining Alliance, achieving a 4-star rating! Tom Flood, Schlafly’s Properties and Sustainability Manager shared, “We are thrilled to be the first restaurant certified by the new St. Louis Green Dining Alliance. The program is an exciting new development in the St. Louis restaurant scene. I think the survey and audit will prove to be indispensible tools for area businesses to use in their efforts to operate as sustainably as possible.”
Regardless of a restaurant’s current practices, local eateries interested in discovering how they can reduce their environmental impact are invited to participate – the first step is to complete a pre-certification survey. St. Louis Earth Day staff will work with owners, managers and employees to tailor a strategy that will meet both business and sustainability goals.
With the support of our sponsors, Blue Skies Recycling, CMS Solutions, Whole Foods and the Crawford Taylor Foundation, this program aims to connect restaurants and consumers to sustainable resource options, create an accessible database of sustainable dining locations, and personalize sustainability plans for each restaurant while educating restaurant staff and consumers.
