Driving Zero Waste and Sustainable Actions at Cafe and Restaurants (Sustainabili-Tea Talks Session 1)

It can be difficult to imagine a zero waste cafe or restaurant, especially in Japan, where food waste amounts to more than 6 million tons annually. However, two zero waste cafe owners, who have achieved Zero Waste Accreditation from Zero Waste Japan, shared their operations as the first session’s speakers.

Key activities and philosophy of a Zero Waste Cafe

Yuichi Hirayama, Director of Veg Out from Kyoto, shared two of their key activities: composting and a bulk store corner.

Hirayama: We have an electric recycler, which turns the cafe’s food scraps into compost. We use it in our Veg Out Garden, give it to our staff, and even to vegetable suppliers to enrich their crop soil. We’ve also created a small circular system with the Veg Out Garden, growing plants that get introduced into our menu too.

Veg Out also has a bulk store corner where they sell products by weight. This was driven by the realization of the overabundance of plastic packaging, which Hirayama wanted to reduce, or better, avoid. Customers can bring their personal containers or use the paper bags they provide.

Yuichiro Hattori, Representative Director of lotus granola cafe, shared that his zero actions are grounded in five concepts. These include avoiding excess utensils, creating a menu based on the day’s availability of ingredients, and creating lean operations.

Hattori: For the fourth, we had to be confident of our activities. Our menu is just a piece of paper clipped to the wall, chopstick rests are stones handpicked from the beach, tissues are not provided, and plates were leaves that were composted later. It became our cafe’s style, which links to our last concept: providing an experience as an added value. These became the unique experience that the cafe provides. To add further value, we also began a bulk store for desserts, which doubles as a channel of communication with our customers.

The staff should unite towards a common goal

However, Hirayama pointed out that it wasn’t enough to announce Veg Out’s goal of zero waste.

Hirayama: Among our staff, there were varying degrees of concerns for the environment and stereotypes to break. We organized a study tour to Kamikatsu to tackle that, where the Veg Out team studied sustainable actions, including the unfamiliar bulk store system. The staff discovered relevancy which eventually unified everyone towards a common cause. I’d say the first step cafes need is to kickstart awareness of issues within their team.

Cafes and restaurants have a bigger voice to speak for the customers

Hirayama asked Hattori for his opinion, something which resonated with many cafe and restaurant owners. Even if vegetable suppliers can provide plastic-free packaging, other ingredients they purchase still come with plenty of plastic. Veg Out has a system to deal with it, but how can cafes tackle the issue as a whole?

Hattori: I share the same concerns, and I try my best to reduce purchasing items with plastic packaging. It seems inevitable that there is plastic no matter where we buy things, especially in Japan. However, I think we as cafes have a voice stronger than customers. Consumers may find it hard to negotiate ‘no plastic’ as an individual. But as cafes, we have the leverage to request no packaging.

Cafes, and indeed businesses, regardless of how small they may be, are in a unique position between customers and other businesses. They can act as influencers from which knowledge and ideas circulate. As we’ll explore in the second session, that very position puts SMEs in the best position to create a sustainable society.

The impact cafes and restaurants can have on sustainability

The pandemic has made businesses realize that they cannot continue the way they are. Particularly for cafes and restaurants, there is a realization to avoid burdening the environment.

Both speakers agreed that sustainable cafes and restaurants are making a difference, whether or not they are familiar with the concept of sustainability. And the effective method is not didactic.

Hattori: We should think about what we can do together with the customers. For example, instead of no straws or paper straws, customer feedback helped us implement stainless steel straws. Cafes become the source of the sustainability message.

Next session: How and Why Partnerships Can Help Businesses Shift to Sustainability