Restaurant carbon footprint: what is it and how to reduce it | TFM

A current challenge for many restaurants is minimising the negative impact that their operations have on the environment. To do this, it is crucial to reduce food waste and greenhouse gas emissions produced by the business.

Are you aware of your restaurant’s carbon footprint? Do you have protocols in place for limiting it?

What is a restaurant's carbon footprint?

Let’s start by defining the most important term: carbon footprint.

A carbon footprint is the amount of greenhouse gas emissions that a living being, person, or organisation produces. It’s measured by emissions in tonnes of Carbon Dioxide (CO2).

An increasing percentage of CO2 in the atmosphere is directly responsible for global warming, which has many destructive consequences.

How do I determine my restaurant’s carbon footprint?

To assess your restaurant’s ecological impact, analyse the entire footprint that your business’s activities leave behind. This involves considering every single step of your working process, including obtaining and transporting raw materials, the preparation of your dishes, choosing to offer new services and food waste management. As you will discover, all these activities contribute to a tremendous carbon footprint.

Unfortunately, the hospitality industry is among the sectors that produce the greatest carbon footprint and are consequently extremely environmentally impactful.  Enforcing sustainability measures is a growing priority. It’s time to get down to business, join forces and change restaurants to be:
 

 Sustainable and committed to the planet.

 Responsible for the consequences of their actions.

 Adaptive to the latest eco-friendly trends.

Best practices for reducing carbon footprint in restaurants

Here you can find some basic steps to achieve this in your restaurant management.

Train and educate your team

To get started, try to integrate sustainability into the company philosophy of your restaurant, and train the team to understand your new priorities: 

• Explain the changes to be made
• The reasons why these adjustments are happening
• The positive influence these new policies will have throughout the entire company
• The reduced environmental impact of these implementations 

Educating staff is crucial for elevating the collective consciousness of environmental challenges faced by the restaurant industry. Furthermore, these shifts can help businesses effect long-term strategic change to reduce their carbon footprint. 

There are companies that specialise in helping restaurants take this big step with the right information and methodology. Look them up where you are and hire their services for an extra hand.

Practice sustainable purchasing

When you think about restaurant management, one of the core activities that comes to mind is purchasing. This is also the area where you can reduce your carbon footprint the most by following these best practice purchasing steps:

• Opt for reusable tableware, such as cups, cutlery, glasses, napkins, etc. Phase out single-use plastics or disposable equipment. You can also replace bottled water with filtered tap water in recycled bottles or jugs.

• Choose seasonal products that are locally sourced, have recyclable packaging, and therefore are less impactful to transport. 

• Buy sustainable farming and fishing products from farms that promote animal well-being. Be wary of the beef cattle industry, which is responsible for the world’s highest methane emissions.

Effective waste management

Great improvements are also possible through effective waste management.

• Begin with a prevention phase to produce the least food waste possible. Divide and store ingredients in