WASHINGTON, D.C.—To help its members expand environmental sustainability efforts, the National Restaurant Association announced that it is working with the Atlanta-based Zero Waste Zone program to identify best practices, create resources and measure the impact of perishable organics waste management efforts. Celebrating its second anniversary today, the Zero Waste Zone program is administered by Elemental Impact. The collaboration is part of the Association’s Conserve: Solutions for Sustainability initiative.
“Atlanta’s Zero Waste Zone program has been incredibly successful, and we are now looking to expand that success to communities nationwide,” said Scott DeFife, executive vice president for policy and government affairs for the National Restaurant Association. “Sustainability is imperative to our industry, other business communities and the general public. Working with Elemental Impact, we are bringing industry stakeholders together to enable our members to establish—and succeed in reaching—waste diversion and resource recovery goals.”
“These are exciting times,” said Holly Elmore, founder and CEO of Elemental Impact. “To build upon what has already been done here in Atlanta with the Zero Waste Zone program and bring it to the nation’s almost one million foodservice operations is truly remarkable.”
Through funding from the Turner Foundation, the National Restaurant Association created the Conserve: Solutions for Sustainability environmental initiative in 2008. Since the launch, the initiative has provided the foodservice industry with a free online resource, Conserve.Restaurant.org, the Conserve Solutions Center at the NRA Show, numerous educational resources and the soon-to-be-launched Conserve Education and Recognition program.
Elemental Impact is a national nonprofit organization dedicated to bringing sustainable operating practices to the corporate community. The project creates easy-to-implement criteria to reduce, recycle and compost waste in restaurants and other businesses that make good business sense. For more information on Elemental Impact and Zero Waste Zones, visit www.elementalimpact.org.
