should your restaurant go green?

Should your restaurant join the 'save-the-earth' campaign and go green? If you ask me, I would say yes. The earth is in dire need of every cooperative soul to save it from destruction. If safe , clean water run out, if the global warming gets unbearable and if we run of out of trees for paper, your restaurant just might be in trouble too.

The reason some people are not as cooperative in this campaign is because of convenience. Most of the things we have to give up to join the advocacy are those that are convenient for us like plastic bags, styro and plastic take outs and such. But really, I think that it is all laziness and disinterest.

So you ask: How do I pitch in in the drive? There are a few simple steps you can start with.

MINIMIZE USE OF PLASTIC BAGS. Purchasers should advise or use reusable containers when purchasing. Plastic bags should be minimized. Another is using paper bags for takeouts rather than plastic bags. Also, it might be time to shift to actual plates, spoons, forks and glasses instead of disposable ones. I have seen a lot of fastfood chains making these move. Of course, it is a balancing act for most of them.

RECYCLE. This just might be one of the easiest things to do. Restaurants accumulate a lot of canned and plastic containers from catsup, sauces, seasonings to soda and beer cans. Gather these up and sell them or recycle. Newspaper and magazines used in restaurants should also be sold instead of just being thrown away.

USE ELECTRICITY AND WATER-SAVING MEASURES. Use CFL lamps and designs for your restaurant that allow as much light into the place as much as possible. This is to minimize use of too many lighting fixtures. It is also important to defrost freezers and clean lightings to optimize electricity consumption. Schedule frozen goods stock release to avoid constant reopening of freezers. If your restaurant is a big area, make sure that the area is not open entirely to help you conserve on electricity on air-conditionng and light.

If before it is a standard to serve water once guests are seated, this has been revised due to water conservation measures.

Bottomline it will be management's will to help in these measures.