Eight Carson City restaurants join the Green Dining District on Carson Street

The nonprofit organization greenUp!, which provides environmental education to businesses, announced Wednesday that it has eight restaurants so far that will be part of the Green Dining District pilot program on Carson Street in Carson City.

Last year the Nevada Department of Conservation & Natural Resources’ Division of Environmental Protection’s Sustainable Materials Management Recycling Program named the greenUp program among six grant recipients statewide to host the pilot project.

As part of the green dining district launch in Carson City, greenUP! is providing recycling guides to at least 30 restaurants on Carson Street, between Stewart and Winnie Streets to encourage them to take action to eliminate straw usage, discontinue use of Styrofoam containers, compost their food waste, and practice energy saving measures at their establishments.

Eight restaurants have made a commitment to have their waste streams measured and look at ways to reduce all types of waste in their operations.

The restaurants in the pilot program are Cafe at Adele's, Artisan Café, Flavors of India, Garibaldi’s, Gather, LA Bakery, the Martin Hotel Restaurant, and Scoups Ice Cream and Soup Bar.

“The restaurants are making a significant commitment to be part of this program," said Donna Walden, president of the greenUP! Board and leader of the Green Dining District program. "Several of them already have some good environmental practices and all are looking to better our community by practicing sustainability.”

While all waste streams are being analyzed, food waste is particularly of interest because restaurants produce so much of it. According to the US EPA, in 2015 alone, more than 39 million tons of food waste was generated with only 5.3 percent diverted from landfills and incinerators for composting. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FOA) estimated in 2011 that approximately one- third of all food produced for human consumption worldwide is lost or wasted.

GreenUP! will accept new restaurants into the pilot until May 20. The Green Dining District program is expected to continue in future years and other restaurants will be invited to join the Carson Street Green Dining District to help preserve Carson City. For more information, visit http://greenupnow.biz or email info@greenupnow.biz.

Here's some comments from some of the participating restaurants in the Green Dining District Pilot:

“I am looking so forward to participating in this exciting new initiative moving Carson City forward to Green Dining and being resourceful and thoughtful of the food we can use instead of waste in our growing and thriving community.” - Jeanne Dey, Owner, Artisan Cafe, Artisan Café, 701 S Carson St, Ste 100, Carson City. You can find them on Facebook here.

Dolly Kaur, owner of Flavors of India said, “I came to this community to make a difference with my restaurant. Flavors of India already practices sustainability by watering plants with water that dining customers don’t use and donating extra food from the buffet to the homeless. We are working on minimizing the usage of plastic by replacing plastic cups with clay cups that are earth friendly and gives business to local potteries.” — Flavors of India, is located at 1105 S Carson St, Carson City. You can find them on Facebook here.

Angela Bullentini Wolf, owner/manager at Gather Food + Family said: “Environmental stewardship is a concept that we consider when choosing the products that we serve at Gather. So it only makes sense that we keep this goal in mind when setting our practices for waste management within the restaurant. Waste reduction isn’t difficult when we put our minds to it. We can all work together to achieve a sustainable future for our community. And by tapping into local businesses who have the same green waste management goals, we create a symbiosis that supports the community from both a financial and environmental perspective.” Gather Food + Family, is located at 402 North Carson Street, Carson City. You can find them on Facebook here.

"Every week, Waste Management picks up 6 yards of waste at my establishment and 20 percent of that is food waste that goes into the landfill. I joined the Green Dining District to help find a better solution for waste and to help the planet,” said Ali Arbabha, manager at LA Bakery, which is located at 1280 N Curry St, Carson City. You can find them on Facebook here.

Kimberly Landry, owner at Scoups Ice Cream & Soup Bar said, “I joined the Green Dining District to help remedy the tremendous amounts of waste that restaurants produce. At the same time, I will adopt many green practices that will help beautify Carson City.” Scoups Ice Cream and Soup Bar is located at 224 No. 4 S Carson St, Carson City.

Cafe at Adele's at 1112 North Carson Street are also on the list of participating restaurants. Cafe at Adele's is closed temporarily due to a fire that happened March 28. There are plans to re-open this year.

Garibaldi's Ristorante Italiano serves unique pasta dishes, fresh sea food at more, open for lunch and dinner. Garibaldi's Ristorante Italiano is located at 307 N Carson St.

The Martin Hotel in Carson City is a Basque American restaurant with the same great food and same great service as The (World Famous) Martin in Winnemucca which opened in 1878. The Martin is located at 308 N. Curry St. Suite 100.