A Guide to Phasing out Plastic
A universal truth
Kitchens are aggressive users of utilities, gas, electricity and water, it takes a lot more than just creativity, provenance and craft skills to get that food to you….
You would think that kitchens were warm and toasty but if you ever have been lucky enough to do a breakfast shift, the kitchen first thing in the morning is always a really cold room, there is no heating, why would there be?
So what do you do…. you go in and turn on every heat source, the salamnders, six ring burners, the solid tops, just to take the chill off the place, whilst its all warming up nicely you go and get changed then begin your shift, hopefully just a breakfast lunch shift but maybe an a breakfast lunch and dinner shift also known as a AFD. (All f****** day) its never called that on the rota but we have all done them. As mentioned earlier it takes a lot to get that food to you.
As well as the copious amounts of gas, electricity and water that kitchens use, kitchens also draw in plenty of other commodities many of which which are recyclable, plastic, metal, card, glass the list goes on.
If you have your dry goods deliveries in a cage, on occasions you will find cages wrapped in 10 metres plus of cling film or single use plastic, despite the goods being in a wire cage.
It has to be said that establishments are getting better at helping to join the circle with waste separation and suppliers are improving but we have far to go before we can say our side of the street is clean.
Never as glamorous at the back of house
Each part of the supply chain needs checks and measures, legal, political, enviromental and ethical considerations all need to be joined up.
Of course some plastic can be vital but I cannot begin to tell you how much single use plastic I have used or how much food waste kitchens generate but food waste is another subject. On the matter of plastic we can make changes if we are educated and question our current practices in the right way.
Conversations with procurement/suppliers need to be built around why are all the soft drinks you offer in plastic etc, why are all your cages wrapped in metres of single use plastic, it goes on and on….
They can feed back and if enough chefs ask the question and do not allow themselves to be edited out of the conversation then change will come but it will only come if you are part of that conversation.
Take the time and look at the slide deck below from the Sustainable Restaurant Association, their website is well worth looking at, maybe look to work with them too and make the change
Further Info
https://foodmadegood.global
https://thesra.org
Upcycling !
