A sandwich restaurant in Chicago won the title of the most green restaurant in the world, since for the past two years it has almost zero waste! Sandwich me in opened its doors, aiming to recycle and compost trash so that it does not end up in the landfill. From May 2012 and the inauguration of the restaurant, all the waste it has produced is equivalent to the trash caused by a similar restaurant in just one hour! In a rough estimation, that would be about 30 liters! That means you can only imagine the amount that has been recycled and composted since day 1.
Justin Vrany, who is 36 years old and the proud owner of the restaurant, said that he hopes he can motivate other restaurants to reduce the garbage of their business too. He continued by saying that since he did it with a fast food restaurant, there are no excuses and anyone can do it too! In this way, you can work hard to provide your children a better world, he explained. The frying oil is processed and then ends up as fuel to farmers, while the leftovers are converted into food for chickens of a farm that provides the restaurant with eggs.
However, the path to get this record was not an easy one and he faced many problems to achieve zero waste. According to him, the first six months the restaurant struggled to keep the costs low and avoid products such as prepackage broth. Instead, he made his own using bones from the chicken and their crispy skin was used in salads cobb. Furthermore, all materials used are fresh and unprocessed, as they are coming from local farmers.
For me, a company is not just about money. If we do not move forward with ecological awareness, we will never do. Such practices can operate without affecting the products and reasonable prices, explains the 36 year old owner. It is worth mentioning that recently an artist has used the minimum residual waste (eight gallons) of the shop to construct a work of art.
In the following short film you will see how the Sandwich Me In remains sustainable and ecological!
