Co-owner of Urban Eats Café, Caya Aufiero, makes sure her restaurant’s waste ends up in the right bin.
The Green Dining Alliance’s educational workshop on July 16th will explore ways restaurants can reduce energy usage and waste production. It will include a walk through audit of Café Natasha’s on South Grand, focusing on single stream recycling, organic waste, and lighting.
The waste audit will be performed by experts from St. Louis Earth Day, Republic Services and St. Louis Composting, a GDA sponsor. A lighting audit will demonstrate the options and return on investment of adopting LEDs for your business, performed by local authorities in lighting.
Register for the workshop online today!
Participants can request more information local service representatives, sign up for recycling and composting, or schedule a free lighting audit at their location. There is no obligation necessary.
Save money while reducing the impact of your business on the environment and supporting the local economy:*
Lighting
- Lighting alone is responsible for 50% of energy use in the average restaurant.
- Changing from incandescent bulbs to cooler LED lights will save 10% on air conditioning energy consumption.
- Ameren Missouri’s BizSavers program currently offers rebates to business owners for purchasing energy efficient bulbs and fixtures. These rebates generate savings after a 3-month payback on the upfront cost.
- New LED bulbs contain less toxic mercury than any previous models.
Recycling and Composting
- By reducing the waste produced, restaurants can reduce their waste hauling fees. By adding recycling or organics recycling, a business will reduce landfill waste.
- Adding single stream recycling typically results in a 0-5% price increase in hauling costs.
- Adding composting is typically a 10-15% increase total.
- 75% of an average restaurant’s waste can be recycled.
- More than 25,000 jobs are directly related to recycling activities in Missouri. Every 10,000 tons of additional waste diverted from landfills can create 10 recycling jobs or 75 materials reuse jobs.
- Aluminum recycled in St. Louis can be back on the shelf as a new can in as little as 30 days, after being processed in Arnold, MO.
- Glass is recycled locally at Strategic Materials in St. Louis.
Recyclable plastics tumble down a conveyor belt at an area Materials Recovery Facility (MRF) for sorting.
Register to Attend
- No Fee: Employees of GDA members, pending members & GDA network
- $10: Non-GDA guests
Registration requested by Friday, July 11th. Registration requested but not required. Cash and credit cards will be accepted at the door.
