RESTAURANTS ARE SOME OF THE BIGGEST WASTE-MAKERS AROUND.
From packaging and prep to leftovers and napkins, it takes just a day or two for most eateries to load an industrial-sized dumpster with garbage.
Which makes the waste reduction by Trafalgars Bistro and sister business Sweet Obsession Cakes and Pastries in Kitsilano even more impressive.
Last fall, co-owners Stephen Greenham left and Lorne Tyczenski decided to do something about their garbage.
Restaurant and bakery teams now separate waste into eight different disposal streams: returnable containers, hard plastics, soft plastics, glass, paper, metal cardboard, and organics.
The game changer is the $25,000 GreenGood GG-50 composting machine the partners installed for the restaurants to share. It composts organic waste in 24 hours, emits no odour, and reduces food waste down to 90% of its original volume. The loop is closed each week when 240 kilograms of compost is shared with neighbourhood farms throughout the city, enhancing the health of the soil for growing food.
In four months they reduced the waste from the bistro and bakery by 98 per cent - to less than a bag of garbage per week. The money they save on waste removal means the GG-50 will pay for itself in two years.
Now that's setting a green example.
