For Customers

These resources are intended to help customers communicate with restaurants, so as to encourage them to take on more eco-friendly practices.

Food Waste

Food Choices: Plant-Based vs Animal-Based

Opportunity Cost Loss

"With a third of all food production lost via leaky supply chains or spoilage, food loss is a key contributor to global food insecurity. Demand for resource-intensive animal-based food further limits food availability. In this paper, we show that plant-based replacements for each of the major animal categories in the United States (beef, pork, dairy, poultry, and eggs) can produce twofold to 20-fold more nutritionally similar food per unit cropland. Replacing all animal-based items with plant-based replacement diets can add enough food to feed 350 million additional people, more than the expected benefits of eliminating all supply chain food loss." - The Opportunity Cost of Animal Based Diets Exceeds All Food Losses

Combat Hunger

Some amount of waste is inevitable, but if we can identify what foods may go to waste before they expire, then the best place to send them to is to hunger people who may not be able to afford to eat. Studies have found that food programs help young children get better educational scores, and go on to make higher salaries than kids who have to go hungry. 

According to current data, we already produce enough food to feed 12-14 billion people, yet, due to inefficiencies and food waste, around 828 million people go hungry every year.

Grocery shops and restaurants throw away jaw-dropping amounts of food every year, but you can get tax discounts and other benefits from taking the time to make sure potential food waste is diverted to help combat hunger.

Compost

We've managed to lose about halfof Earth's nutritious soil in the last 150 years. This is a huge problem because healthy soil can takes hundreds, even thousands of years to produce naturally. By composting, we speed up the process, and return valuable nutrients to our food system.

Oyster Shell Recycling

Oyster reefs area vital part for ocean health, both filtering pollutants and disease from the water, while their hard shells provide stable spaces for entire ecosystems to flourish. Oysters boost biodiversity with some species feeding directly on the shellfish themselves, while other species benefit from them in other ways. Unfortunately, due to overharvesting, various construction projects, water pollution, and other events, we have lost an estimated 85% of Earth's oyster reefs.

Since not everyone is ready to go fully vegan to protect the planet, one way to give back is to return the unwanted oyster shells to you local oyster reef restoration program. Click the Oyster Reef Projects button to learn what is in your area, and where you can drop off the shells, or if there is a local pick-up service!

Reduce Light Pollution

Light pollution is one of the worst types of pollution, but also one of the least-talked-about. It can contribute to mass death of many species (particularly migratory bird, insects like fireflies, and baby sea turtles), but also causes disturbances in human health. Light pollution can keep people awake as it slips in past their curtains, plus it contributes to hormonal problems that cause weight gain and even breast cancer.

Simple steps to reduce light pollution include:

• Use curtains or blinds to keep light indoors.

• Keep outdoor lights pointed down at the ground instead of outward or upward where light gets wasted or even blinds people and animals.

• Turn off lights at night, when they are not needed. Keeping lights on 24/7 makes it harder for security guards or police to see a criminal using a flashlight or setting off a motion sensor than trying to identify a person in an over-light area.

Pub Gardens, Roof Gardens, & Planted Patios

People love the option to sit outside and eat. People are more likely to make this choice if the outside area has plenty of plants to obscure the surrounding infrastructure, especially any loud, smelly roadways. Plants boost our physical and mental health, can help people feel calmer. Plants reduce impacts of light, sound, and air pollution. If planted in strategic locations, they can also reduce chemical run off and flooding, by sequestering rain in urban settings, both on roofs or planted in the ground.

Native plants help boost biodiversity, clean air, and help reduce run off that can contribute to flooding. It's always best to pick native trees and wildflowers which better serve local wildlife, but also require less care and maintenance than foreign plants.