One way to differentiate yourself from other restaurants in the area is to demonstrate your commitment to energy efficiency and become an ENERGY STAR Partner. This program provides you with the necessary education, assistance and technical resources to lower utility bills, offer greater comfort, and enhanced durability, and show your employees and customers that you are committed to a more sustainable environment.

• Become an ENERGY STAR Partner

To really make your restaurant stand out, replace your old take-out or to-go containers with more environmentally friendly and biodegradable containers. Get rid of styrofoam and polystyrene foam completely! Those take thousands of years to biodegrade and are made from harmful chemicals.

Look for containers made from potato or corn starch, recycled content paper products, bamboo, grasses, even leaves. Your customers will appreciate the effort, and the containers won't waste the planet.

"Eco To Go" is a way to reduce disposables that come with To Go orders. Often, customers pick up To Go orders and take them back to their home or office, where they already have silverware and napkins and maybe even condiments. Usually the silverware and napkins from To Go orders are never used and end up being thrown out or collecting in some drawer somewhere. Why not give your customers the option of taking these extras if they want or need them rather than always including them with the order. Start offering an "ECO TO GO" option, so when a customer says that with their order, your employees know to not include any extras beyond the food in their containers and in a bag. Not only will this reduce unneccessary trash, but it will also save your restaurant money on disposable items.

Here's how you start an Eco To Go Program:

1. Post a sign up in your restaurant and on your website alerting customers they can start ordering this way.

2. Educate your employees about what "Eco To Go" means, what to include and what not to include. If the customer doesn't specify when placing the order, have your employee ask, "Would you like your order Eco To Go?" At first your employees will have to explain what it means, but eventually everyone will catch on.

3. Follow up. Make sure your employees are adhering to the policy and keep educating customers on reducing waste.

4. If you haven't already done so, look into buying biodegradable To Go containers that are much more environmentally friendly.

Making sure that organic (food) waste doesn't enter the landfill is the most important thing that restaurants can do to reduce their carbon footprint. About 30% of food is wasted nationwide, and that figure is higher in restaurant spaces. When organic waste decomposes in a landfill space, it releases methane (a powerful greenhouse gas) and the nutrients are not returned to the soil.

Here are a few local companies that will pick up your food waste and turn it into nutrient rich compost that helps improve soil quality: 

• Spoil to Soil
• Wild Harvest FarmsSave