Customers can help restaurants go green

July 3, 2011 at 12:00a.m.

By Sylvia Rector

Detroit Free Press

When Kermit the Frog sang, “It’s not easy being green,” he wasn’t talking about protecting the planet. But his lyrics leaped to mind when our company was asked to make greater efforts to recycle.

There’s a bin or cart or box or tub on our floor appropriate for almost everything we might throw away. It’s a reminder that much of what we eat generates enormous amounts of waste.

Many restaurant owners are keenly aware of that and go to great lengths to recycle every reusable resource. Some choose to pay extra for biodegradable carryout containers for their customers. Others refuse to use the foam cups that won’t break down in landfills.

The National Restaurant Association has a new website — www.RestaurantsConserve.com — designed to help restaurants green their business, reduce operating expenses and improve the bottom line.

The site is also supposed to help consumers find such restaurants.

Customers can help restaurants reduce food- industry waste. Here’s how:

If you don’t plan to drink the water often brought to the table automatically, tell your server before it arrives. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, more than 25 million gallons of water a year could be saved if 1 out of every 4 restaurant guests skipped water they didn’t want to begin with.

Keep straws and plastic utensils out of the landfill by skipping them if you don’t need them. More than 500 million disposable straws are used every day in U.S. restaurants, according BeStrawFree.org.

Try bringing a travel coffee mug for your morning coffee. The association says some places offer discounts for not using a carryout cup.