The Greening of Our Industry
April 2009
By Debby Cannon, Ph.D., CHE, School of Hospitality, Robinson College of Business, Georgia State 
University
Georgia is leading the way for a greener foodservice industry. Two major initiatives will be benchmarks for the industry nationwide in the area of sustainable foodservice operations. In February of this year, the Zero Waste Zone was announced for downtown Atlanta. Also, in the first quarter of this year, the Green Foodservice Certification was announced by the Green Foodservice Alliance. The Green Foodservice Alliance is a collaboration of the Georgia Restaurant Association, the American Culinary Federation Chapter, Georgia Organics and the Georgia Grown program of the Department of Agriculture.
The Zero Waste Zone is a partnership between downtown foodservice operators including restaurants, hotels, entertainment venues and the Georgia World Congress Center. With their combined efforts, tons of garbage, food scraps and cooking oil will be diverted from landfills, including a significant amount that will be transformed into compost. The Zero Waste Zone was created by the Green Foodservice Alliance and Atlanta Recycles. Plans are for the zone to expand to other businesses throughout the downtown area and then to other parts of Atlanta. The zone will eventually expand to other cities in a multiphase expansion plan. The Zero Waste Zone is the first such zone in the Southeast and one of the first in the nation.
The formula for creating the Zero Waste Zone is also reflected in the criteria for the Green Foodservice Certification. To be launched in the second quarter of 2009, the first phase of certification is based on key fundamentals that will establish a strong foundation from which businesses can continually become greener.
The criteria for certification through the Green Foodservice Alliance will include the following:
- Recycling of common recyclable goods including aluminum and steel, cardboard and corrugated boxes, glass, paper and plastic;
- The use of spent grease for the local production of biofuel, with “local” defined as a one-way distance of 250 miles or less from the source;
- Preference for no polystyrene but, if used, a recyclable or compostable alternative clearly and easily available to the end user – whether an employee or customer;
- A written plan for the donation of nonsellable food to a charitable organization in accordance with all applicable local, state and national regulations; and
- A written plan for energy conservation, including gas, electricity and water
The certification process will involve an online application followed by an on-site visit by a trained evaluator or evaluators. A commission will then review applications and site reports with certification status for one year granted to those establishments successfully meeting the criteria.
According to Holly Elmore, founder and Executive Director of the Green Foodservice Alliance, this level of certification will allow many Georgia-based foodservice operations to participate. It establishes a strong foundation from which additional sustainable practices can be implemented in the future, leading to higher levels of certification. For example, Elmore predicts that in future years, environmentally safe chemicals, as in cleaning supplies, will be added to the criteria list.
While it is recognized that all businesses are looking for ways to cut costs and overhead in the current economy, the reality is that many of the certification requirements are directly linked to more efficient and less costly business operations. Certified foodservice operations will also have the opportunity to display their certification seal and market their green status to customers and employees.
As explained by Elmore, the potential impact of such initiatives is significant:
“The foodservice industry is the largest employer behind government in the nation. The amount of product hauled to landfills by our industry is tremendous. At the Green Foodservice Alliance, we are committed to the diversion of product, especially food residuals and organic matter that contribute to greenhouse gases from landfills. Now is the time to make a difference, and the industry enthusiasm is inspiring.”
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