ORLANDO—The Florida Restaurant & Lodging Show wrapped up last week at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando with more than 400 exhibitors demonstrating their products to restaurateurs and hoteliers from all over the state and beyond. Many of the suppliers on hand offered products to reduce energy and water consumption as well as waste. The following is a list of some of those suppliers along with descriptions of the products they introduced.
True Green Enterprises, Inc.—The maker of tree free paper straws, bath tissue, jumbo roll tissue, facial tissue, paper towels, napkins, and paper cups, announced that it will be supplying cups to the 2020 Super Bowl made from bamboo. They are compostable and BPI certified.
Pack-A-Drum, Inc. demonstrated its compactor system designed for the safe movement and deflation of trash. The all-manual system features a hinged door system for no-lift removal of trash. The system facilitates a reduction 40 to 60 percent reduction in trash volume and hauling expense. It results in less volume, less mess, fewer trips, and less cleanup.
RGF Environmental Group, Inc. displayed its commercial air purification systems that feature photohydroionization technology. They are built for restaurants, bars, larger meeting rooms and other similar commercial applications. They are available in different models and sizes—there is a bathroom air purification system, for example, and a plug-in model for hotel rooms.
Indalo HORECA showed its purified, sparkling and alkaline cold-water dispenser that eliminates the water miles and waste associated with plastic bottled water. Water is processed through a closed system, without stagnation or exposure to sunlight; and it also has different filtration options that guarantee water of very high-quality control. Customized bottles and jars are available.
Kalera Inc. featured its fresh produce grown in indoor spaces that incorporate cleanroom technology, IoT, big data and ai-based process automation to ensure perfect growing conditions. Plant nutrients are constantly monitored, and pesticides are never used.
Ecocups was at the show with its paper cups, containers, tubs, buckets, bowls, boxes, plates and more. Coming this fall: 100 percent compostable paper board. It eliminates the use of polyethylene and replaces it with an organic resin that is 100 percent compostable.
Valley Proteins described its services which include the reliable collection and recycling of used cooking grease, the efficient recycling of FOG (fats, oils, grease) from grease traps, and preventive line jetting maintenance services.
PathSpot demonstrated its hand scanner that can instantly detect invisible indicators of bacteria and viruses that cause foodborne illness including Norovirus, E.coli, Listeria, Hepatitis A, and Salmonella.
Polar Controller featured its PC-1 live monitoring system that works with cooling equipment across the light to medium commercial HVAC-R and cold chain industries. Whereas most systems only monitor temperature, Polar Controller’s software gathers data from eight to 11 variables including temperature, pressure, and power, enabling remote smart diagnosis and predictive performance insights. The 24/7 monitoring system takes readings every seven minutes, then sends the results via cellular data or a cloud service to Polar Controller, creating a continuous data log. Measurements occurring outside of predetermined parameters are reviewed by a certified technician who activates a notification and escalation protocol to inform the customer of important issues, allowing proactive interventions. Customers have access to a dashboard that shows the temperature and variable performance in real-time plus data logs.
Bamboo Studio introduced its paper straws, coffee cups, ice cream cups, lunch boxes, food boxes and trays, and popcorn packaging. Bamboo Studio paper cups and other paper-based packaging applications made with EarthCoating may be easily pulped into recycled paper using conventional recycling equipment.
Perfect Stix featured its wooden cutlery, paper straws, wooden plates, wooden drink stirrers, disposable cups, ice cream sticks, ice cream spoons, wooden dowels, candy apple sticks, corn dog sticks, coffee sleeves, napkins and more.
4th Utensil offered its reusable stainless steel straws. OkStraw was also at the show with its large collection of paper straws.
Thermaco, Inc. demonstrated its Trapzilla Grease Interceptors, Solids Separators, and other options. Trapzilla’s innovative design enables it to store more grease in a small volume. Trapzilla’s compact footprint and large capacity make it easy to couple together grease interceptors and solids separators.
DAR PRO Solutions offered its grease trap pumping and maintenance service. All material removed from traps, that is not used for energy generations at some of its plants, is always documented and disposed of in a legal and environment-friendly manner.
Oilmatic featured its innovative cooking-oil system that fills and empties a fryer in minutes with its cutting-edge Dipstick. The closed-loop system means one never has to handle hot, dirty oil—or lug clean oil to the kitchen. Using the Dipstick one can easily drain used cooking oil and store it in an exterior receptacle. Then, at the push of a button, one can pump in fresh, clean oil that’s stored in an external fill station outside the facility. An Oilmatic truck regularly removes the used oil and resupplies with fresh, clean oil to be pumped in when one needs it. All waste oils are collected, cleaned, and transformed into renewable American-made biodiesel.
Glenn Hasek can be reached at editor@greenlodgingnews.com.
