The other day there were a bunch of people in a restaurant of ours (Kaati Zone) – they seem to have threatened my restaurant staff that we use too much of plastic, its polluting the earth and if we didn’t stop – serious action will be taken from the NGO the crowd seemed to represent! They created a scene – our customers were taken a back & then they went away saying that they will be back in sometime to check if we have changed & gone green!!!
This throws up a few questions. Starting from early in the morning - the toothbrush we use & the tube of paste are made of plastic! The pill and injection that we take when we are sick are packaged in plastic! Major portions of our mobile phones are made of plastic! Our laptops have plastic components! Our food & beverages are packed in plastics! Most things in life today are made of plastic or have a plastic component in it or is packaged in plastic! Plastic has kind of become Omni present in our everyday lives. We use so much of plastic without knowledge or giving it a thought! The whole world is so immersed in using plastic as its convenient, cheap, etc, that we seem to just take its ill effects for granted. But even for an aware individual who wants to make a difference today – does she/he have a choice!?! I don’t think so.
In a typical restaurant there is a certain amount of usage of plastics no doubt – it varies on the kind of food being served to the type of the restaurant to the people who run it to how successful the restaurant is as well. But what is the alternative – PAPER! Hey isn’t it made of trees as well. So if I move from plastics to paper doesn’t it mean that there will be more trees cut to make paper which will substitute plastic! Even though we can recycle paper – there is a limit to it & in the intermediate I feel that if we replaced all the plastic with paper today – there will be no tree left on earth!!! Catch 22!!! And yes it’s a serious dilemma for a restaurant – do I use paper – especially re-cycled paper – which costs more!!! Will the consumer pay for it? Yes, but a very small section of them. Then what about the others? So will an upcoming chain of restaurants be able to take a substantial financial burden to be on the right path by risking its own survival??? Some people may even say why bother when so many others who are more polluting are not even bothered!
There are many things a restaurant can do to be green like recycling of paper, reduction of usage of paper, energy conservation, water conservation, use locally grown produce, non-bleached napkins, recycled paper towels and toilet paper, print on recycled paper using bio degradable ink, use electronic media a lot like not printing, screen based ordering, e-correspondence, and e-forms. Restaurants can also use Green cleaning products, green transport, and do away with non-bio degradables like Styrofoam & plastic based products. We at Kaati Zone have taken a conscious decision to have a keen eye on conservation & being green. We have an eco friendly delivery system of cycles through which we deliver food orders to our customers at their desks or doorsteps. Our bulk delivery & logistics vehicles also use LPG which is less polluting & efficient fuel. We have a very stringent energy & water conservation system for all our restaurants as well as our office – small things like turning off the electrical device when its not in use is very seriously followed. We use white lighting & CFLs in our restaurants & office that conserves energy. Some of our employees evangelize Green Living & contribute their thought & efforts. But there is a long way to go in being a completely green restaurant chain & company, we are moving towards it & as we grow we hope to increasingly adapt ourselves & adopt technologies / practices that are greener. A green effort is always an owners pride & neighbors envy!
Authored by Subash J Bidare, Head of Marketing, Kaati Zone, East West Ethnic Foods.
1 comment:
Plastic can definitely not be avoided because like you have rightly mentioned, it is an integral part of most of the stuff we use. The problem is that the consumption of eco-unfriendly materials is increasing at an alarming rate. Simple examples being plastic shopping bags, plastic water bottles, plastic glasses for drinking water/tea etc. For being eco-sensitive, we have to follow the principles of 'reduce, recycle and reuse'. Its very easy to carry either cloth bags or plastic bags when we go shopping, carry water bottles from home, using steel glasses for drinking water..but in the guise of convenience and hygiene, we don't do it.
I was told of this incident in Warrier bakery in Rajajinagar where my friend had gone to buy a loaf of bread and when she returned the plastic bag and put the bread in her own bag, the owner returned Re. 1 to her!
I am reading a book called 'Naturenomics' which I think has suggestions on how to balance economics and ecology.
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