Personal Project: Alternative Solutions- Overcoming the Barriers to Recycling

The greening of Anyetsang's Little Tibet continues...

In my previous post I examined the four main barriers to recycling at Anyetsang's Little Tibet, which include:
              1) Funding
              2) Space
              3) Convenience
              4) Attitude

Despite these barriers, I am confident that solutions do exist. Here's why:

1) Funding:   Funding is only needed if the restaurant decides to contract with a company to pick up its recyclables. Since the owners are unwilling to budge on their decision to not fund recycling pick up, this means whatever solution is found must be free or have minimal costs that could potentially be covered by the restaurant's sustainability fund. With this in mind, I think that a possible solution would be for an employee(s) to take the recycling from the restaurant to their home, where curbside recycling is offered free of charge by the City of Bloomington.

2) Space:  True, space is indeed a huge issue in the kitchen, but what about space in the mid-front area of the restaurant where waitstaff does intermediary prep work (making salads, drinks, managing the phones, etc...)? With a little bit of rearrangement of the waitstaff table, and reorganization of materials to use the existing space more efficiently, I believe that it would be possible to have a bin for recyclables.  
While it is more common for restaurants that recycle to do so in the kitchen, according to a 2011 report issued by the National Restaurant Association, 43% of restaurants that recycle use front of house recycling programs. (Note: Unfortunately, the owner did not agree to photos being taken of the prep area for me to show the current set up and its potential role in a recycling program at Little Tibet.)

3) Convenience: If recycling containers are able to be placed in the mid-front prep area, convenience for recycling is no longer an issue! Waitstaff currently throw recyclables away because we don't have a recycling program, but if bins are installed it will be just as convenient to put recyclables into the recycling bins as it would be to throw them in the trash- barrier eliminated!

4) Attitude: As mentioned in my previous post, no one working at the restaurant is opposed to recycling. With a convenient option available to them and encouragement to participate, I think that waitstaff will be more than willing to cooperate with the recycling efforts. Furthermore, since waitstaff would be entirely responsible for the recycling program, the owner of the restaurant is far more likely to be supportive of the recycling effort- another barrier eliminated!


So, what does this all mean? The barriers to recycling at Little Tibet are surmountable!

A recycling program (run by waitstaff out of the mid-front prep area of the restaurant) is a free, feasible option!!!