Jul 16, 2008 4:57 pm US/Eastern
Green Scene: Philadelphia's 1st Green Restaurant
PHILADELPHIA (CBS 3) ―
One Center
City restaurant is
showing others it's easy to be environmentally friendly and serve delicious
food as the first certified green restaurant in the city.
Its motto is "fresh thinking, healthy eating," so as you
can imagine, there's plenty of green inside Philadelphia's Pita Pit. This restaurant at
16th and Samson, used to caring about its customers health, is now
looking out for the environment as well, having been named the first certified
green restaurant in Philadelphia.
Owner Adam Palmer said, "We saw how much waste we were
producing, and we see how much take-out restaurants produce waste. With the Green Restaurant Association, they
take what you're doing in your store, and they make it better."
Owners Palmer and Adam Green saw how easy it was to go
green and get their certification from the Green Restaurant Association (GRA).
They took simple steps like eliminating Styrofoam,
instituting a recycling plan, and installing water aerators to reduce the
amount of water used.
They've also switched silverware. The utensils might look plastic, but they're
made out of corn, and they're 100% biodegradable.
"It's something that every restaurant, nine out of ten
restaurants can do," said Palmer. "We'd like to lead the charge, and help
create a more sustainable environment for everybody else in Philadelphia."
To stay certified, Pita Pit will continue to take four
proactive steps each year, but they're not waiting. They've already installed energy-efficient
lighting and switched to non-toxic cleaning supplies.
"They don't expect you to go zero to 60 overnight, because
it's not feasible" said Green. "They
just want you to take proactive things to help the environment and remain
sustainable."
One more way Pita Pit is green: They make all their
deliveries by bike.
RELATED LINKS:
http://www.dinegreen.com
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