STILLWATER RESTAURANT
ORGANIC WASTE STRATERGY INDUSTRY FEATURE
Our hospitality sector produces a large amount of organic waste – estimated at 24.5 kilotonnes per annum of which 89 per cent is sent to landfill. Food waste in landfill is a major contributor to land based emissions, contributing 8.2 per cent of emissions globally, compared to 1.4 per cent for air travel and 10 per cent for transport. As part of the visionary document ‘Hospitality 2030’, commissioned by the THA, organic waste management was identified as a major priority and a roadmap has been created to provide options to realise this vision. The ethos behind sustainability acknowledges that our planet’s resources are finite, and producing food requires inputs of energy, time, resources and space. Wastage of food throws away those inputs. The circular economy concept is that resources are retained in use for as long as possible, and by extending the lifecycle of resources total consumption is reduced. For the strategic roadmap, a survey was sent to people in and associated with Tasmania’s hospitality industry. More than 100 responses were received, indicating a high level of interest and engagement with the topic.
This roadmap will be shaped by the assistance of six case studies – businesses who are already heavily invested in reducing their organic waste footprint. One of the case studies is Launceston’s Stillwater Restaurant, a seven-day, breakfast, lunch and dinner restaurant with attached accommodation ‘Seven Rooms’ owned by industry stalwart Bianca Welsh. Stillwater’s menu and ethos focuses on Tasmanian and seasonal produce, and this is where managing food and organic waste begins. This connects the kitchen directly with growers to the point where in some instances the grower will ‘grow to order’, while
Tasmanian Hospitality Review 26 Dec/Jan Edition
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