You’ve seen the damage, you probably don’t like what you see, but how do you deal with it? The world is struggling with the after effects of decades of plastic pollution. If we don't do something, we will not enjoy living in our environment very soon.
Join your colleagues, restaurants and bars around the world who are ditching the use of plastic this year.
Your work environment - (your second home) should be a place you're proud of and should not impact on the environment. So what can you do in your restaurant's kitchen to make it plastic-free?
Get your whole team together and assess just how much plastic is used in your kitchen. Consider on a daily basis, then a weekly basis, then on a monthly basis how much plastic/food//Cling wrap, plastic take away containers, plastic straws, plastic cutlery, plastic packaging on produce, plastic water bottles and bin liners your team touches and discards during the month. It's overwhelming, isn't it? It's everywhere.
And making changes, is not as difficult as it may first seem - seriously.
Take leading Australian-born British chef Skye Gyngell. @skyegyngell Skye made a commitment at the beginning of last year, after watching the documentary Plastic Ocean, to make her restaurant, Spring, @spring_ldn plastic-free by the end of 2018. She gathered all her employees on a Sunday night, pizza and beer in tow, to watch the documentary. They then collectively brainstormed alternatives to the plastic used in the restaurant. Not only did Gyngell and her team succeed in achieving her goal, the challenge trickled into everyone's home lives and as team members shared their latest plastic free alternative solutions at home, it became exciting for each one to contribute their ideas.
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Gyngell asked her suppliers to deliver all produce in reusable crates, with no plastic packaging
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Plastic water bottles were replaced with filtered water dispensers
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After discovering the restaurant used 3,600km of cling wrap a year (enough to stretch from London to Cairo) they replaced plastic wrap with lids and labels or Bee’s Wrap, a natural, reusable and comfortable alternative made from cotton and beeswax.
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Plastic straws were out.
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Plastic bin liners were replaced with biodegrable liners
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After realising the paper ice cream cups had a plastic lining making them non-recyclable, they were replaced with ceramic pots.
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Suppliers were told that plastic or polystyrene would not be accepted in any delivery and only cardboard or paper would be accepted.
What changes are you looking forward to making in your kitchen? Perhaps you have other creative ideas . We're a sharing community on a drive to help and improve, so let us know what you come up with and we'll showcase your commitment on our Instagram + Facebook stories. Share your ideas here and watch out for story being shared with the world.