Recently, the office changed over from disposable paper cups to steel tumblers. Which means that we no longer send 150 glasses — sometimes more — per day to occupy space in the city’s landfill. It also means that we don’t continue to spend money with the one-time investment on the steel tumblers. Despite apprehensions about the staff being unwilling to wash and reuse their own glasses, everything has turned out dandy.
As it has at The Tea Factory and the Tea Museum on the way to Dodabetta in Ooty. Since it was set up, the poplar tourist spot has been giving free cups of tea to visitors, which is a lovely thing to do. Except that it generated enormous amounts of waste by way of disposable tea cups. “We get 2000 to 3000 visitors a day. So that many disposable cups were ending up at the landfill. Besides this, the visitors took away packets of tea in non-woven carry bags adding another couple of thousand bags more at the dump,” says NK Krishnamoorthy, Managing Partner. Now, guests drink their beverage out of shiny stainless steel tumblers. “They are all happy with it. We wash and dry the glasses in a dish washer so they remain shiny and clean. Plus the tea remains hot for a longer time in a cold place like this.” The tea packets are now packed in cloth bags.
Food trays used to nurture seedlings at Sreevatsa nursery
But, sometimes despite best intentions, taking an eco-friendly step in business is not that easy, says Rajiv Ramaswamy of Sreevatsa Real Estate that runs the restaurant Lunch Box and does takeaways. “We tried using steel containers for the takeaway but we ran into two constraints. One was hygiene. The containers had to be washed properly and there was water problem. Second was transport. It wasn’t economical. Eco-friendly items like the leaf donnais are not leak-proof and can’t be sealed. So transporting them over long distances is a huge problem. At this point, we have no alternative to food-grade plastic.” They are requesting their customers to return the food trays that they use for hydroponics and to nurture seedlings at their nursery. “Many customers say they do the same in their apartments or they use it for storage. If they return 10 trays, we give them a small amount. Anyone wants to pick up their lunch in their own containers is also welcome to do so.” At Sreevatsa’s Organic Store, they have no plastic bags and encourage people to bring cloth bags or buy the cloth bags that they stock. “We also ask customers to save and return the milk covers, which are also used in the nursery to grow saplings.”
Take-aways continue to be a problem, says restaurateur Ranjana Singhal but she is working on it. In the meanwhile she has taken other steps to minimise waste. “We refuse to receive purchases in plastic bags and have provided our regular vendors with bags and boxes to deliver their produce. As for other shopping, the staff always carries cloth bags. We only use paper straws, and corn-starch carry bags for delivery of food. We have also done away with quarter plates at the table unless our diners ask for them (this saves on the washing up water).” Staff at her restaurants always ask if you would prefer safe filtered drinking water to bottled water and enquire if the customers want their glasses to be topped up. “We have a few other measures in the pipeline such as using recycled tissue paper, potato-starch garbage bags and corn-starch cutlery for takeaways.”
Eat off steel plates at Agarwal Sweet Palace
At Agarwal Sweet Palace, DB Road, it is gratifying to see the use of steel plates, glasses and cutlery. They give you water/paper napkins only if you want. But the problem, says owner Utkarsh Agarwal, “ is that we need water and people to wash the plates, both of which are in short supply. So, while we still use steel plates at our RS Puram branch, at Peelamedu, we switched to plates made of areca leaves. It is quite expensive but is still worth it.” Again takeaways are the problem with no alternative in sight to food-grade plastic. “Other options are just not cost-effective. We use butter paper to wrap samosas and dhoklas and cardboard boxes for the sweets. but, for the namkeen, we are forced to fall back on plastic. Butter paper can’t be sealed and the boxes are not air tight. The minute I have an option that is eco-friendly and cost-effective, I will use it.”
A colourful range of glasses at Kailash Parbat
It is all in the mind. While most of us have no problem when served water from steel jugs at some restaurants, we become huffy when we are at ‘posh’ places. If we are paying the restaurant a good amount for their food, surely we can expect them to give us safe drinking water. And, why the need for straws at all. That is what Neel Chabbria, Partner at the newly opened Kailash Parbat is aiming for. “We are doing our best to get rid of plastic in any form. We want to replace our plastic straws with the ones made of bamboo. We see a lot of children biting and chewing the plastic straws.” The problem is that they have not found straws long enough for their tall glasses and are looking out for a vendor who can supply them with the right size. “If that takes time, we will start serving beverages without straws. After all, at home, we drink directly from the glass. We plan to say that on our menu cards too; that we will not have plastic straws.” Kailash Parbat uses 50 micron plastic bags and paper boxes with foil for takeaways, but are looking for more eco-friendly options.
Glass bottles from milk from Paal
Paal
Hearing the clink of a milk bottle in the morning is not just a harbinger of coffee but also a sense of satisfaction that one will not be snipping off plastic sachets that will find their way to the dump. Satish Rajendran, Delivery Head of Paal, an alternative model of milk production, says with considerable pride that they have prevented nearly 1.5 tonnes of plastic covers going into the landfill in the past two years. “We bought bottles that have turned out to be economical. We supply around 260 litres a day to 345 households. And, we have hardly had any breakages as our customers are careful.” Paal also supplies curd and ghee in glass bottles to its customers and is looking for eco-friendly alternatives to pack their paneer in.
Glass bottles and steel glasses at Dr Karumbu outlets
Dr Karumbu
Manikantan, one of the owners of the sugarcane juice outlets, says they too have switched from paper cups to steel glasses. “Washing them is an issue but it’s more eco-friendly. But think about all the water that goes into the various processes by which a paper cup is made. You’ll use less water in washing these steel glasses.” For take-aways Dr. Karumbu has glass bottles but, astonishingly, Manikantan says how there are people who insist on the PET bottles. So they have found a way to discourage that. “If you choose PET bottles the cost is ₹85 whereas a glass bottle will cost you ₹70. We also encourage our customers to bring their own containers to buy the juice.”
