The Green Dining Alliance is thrilled to announce our newest Green Dining District in The Loop!
Green Dining Districts are commercial areas where 25% of the locally owned restaurants are GDA members, meaning they don’t use Styrofoam, they recycle, they are phasing in energy efficient lighting and equipment, they conserve water through smart strategies, and they try to source locally when they can. The Loop Green Dining District currently has 7 certified GDA establishments.
In addition to the support of business owners like Joe Edwards, the Green Dining Alliance has had considerable help from a coalition of devoted people who volunteer their time for the Recycling Task Force, including district champions Jessica Bueler and Samantha Smugala – these ladies and their teams have worked hard to spread the word and educate businesses about the benefits of becoming more sustainable.
Joe Edwards and Jessica Bueler
When asked why she decided to put so much effort into making The Loop more sustainable, Bueler said, “I would go to other cool cities along the coasts and see how prevalent and easy public recycling is, and think to myself, ‘I wish St. Louis was like this.’ Then I realized – St. Louis CAN be like this! All we have to do is put in the work. In the Midwest, we want to do (the right thing) but don’t know how to get started. We’re overthinking it. If we put one foot in front of the other, results will follow.”
Committing to a greener dining scene is not the only environmental effort the Loop has made in recent months – The City of University City has installed LEDs in all of their parking lots and in city hall, resulting in less energy consumption and reduced operating costs. The biggest savings were in the lights in front of City Hall, which reduced energy use by 75% while increasing light output by 150%. The City of University City has also begun a program that offers free recycling to businesses who transition to their solid waste service, removing any cost-prohibitive excuses to not recycle. City Hall even offers a convenient drop-off site for Hard-to-Recycle items like batteries and light bulbs. 45 recycling and landfill containers now sit side-by-side along the Delmar strip to help make recycling as easy as possible. Both the recycling initiative and the Green Dining Alliance’s work in the county was sponsored in part from a grant from the St. Louis County Department of Public Health.
The Loop’s Special Business District has worked to reduce its impact as well – they’ve partnered with The City of University City to provide businesses with TerraCycle containers for cigarette butts, keeping them out of the streets, sidewalks, and sewers – the butts are mailed off and melted into plastic, which is then molded into a variety of products.
Sustainability is almost always an effort in collaboration. Without the help and effort of the business owners, employees, community leaders, and local civic leaders, The Loop might never have become a Green Dining District.
Come see the changes for yourself by dining at a GDA restaurant in the Loop Green Dining District!
Current GDA Certified members in The Loop:
Blueberry Hill
Peacock Loop Diner
Eclipse Restaurant
Three Kings Public House
Salt and Smoke
Mission Taco Joint
Nobu’s Sushi
Citizens for Modern Transit’s Ten Toes Express on a tour of the Loop’s Green Dining District.
