Working in the restaurant industry (the kitchen line in particular), there are three things that you come to learn very quickly:

The best way to get a break is to take up a cigarette habit The primary method of communication is either by (a) screaming demands across the restaurant or (b) sending passive-aggressive comments to the kitchen via chit The waste management system is generally as follows: large boxes, plastic and glass containers (anything that can’t fit in the garbage bin) are taken to the blue bin – everything else gets dumped into the garbage (mostly with the exception of fryer grease).

What is ‘everything else’ made up of? Here’s a quick list with the approximate number of items discarded in an average 8 hour prep/line kitchen shift (from what I can remember) in descending order. Note that I am being extremely conservative. This includes but is not limited to:

Plastic wraps, bags, tags, labels and misc. [difficult to measure in units]

Prep & line food waste (uncooked meat, bread, dairy, fruits & veggies) [>10 lbs]

Dining food waste* (prepared food, cooked meat, sauces, oils, bread, dairy) [>20 lbs]

Silicon gloves [20–200]

Bottles [25–200]

Cans [5–25]

Small plastic containers & lids [5–25]

Glass jars [3–10]

Foil [24 sheets 12×36 inch]

More than 90% of what makes up a kitchen garbage can is recyclable or compostable (roughly based on my observations dissecting garbage bags), although to be conservative, let’s assume 75%. Some estimates number close to 95%.

The main restraint from reycling in restaurants is that there is no benefit for them to commit to recycling and invariably requires a lot of extra work to modify and maintain an acceptable recycling system. Restaurants are extremely fast paced and typically require a very efficient and well-managed system to ensure success and profit – if they barely have time how it is, it won’t make sense to them to sacrifice time and profit for no added benefit.

Personally, I’ve tried at multiple restaurants to improve and implement better recycling management programs. Much of the time, unless you’re management, the answer is somewhere along the lines of “why don’t you do your job and I’ll do mine.”

This is not to say that all restaurants reflect this (widely observed) pattern, however in Toronto alone we have over 7550 restaurants. If even 10% of these restaurants follow this pattern, and even with a fairly minimal amount of total waste (let’s say 20kg per day) this adds up to 5,511,500 kg in a year in Toronto alone – 4,133,625 of which is recyclable or compostable (based on our 75% recyclable material assumption).

Suffice to say, I no longer work in the front-lines of the restaurant industry. However, it has forever changed the way I view the importance of recycling in our world.

Transitioning to a corporate environment has made me realize that although not as careless and rampant, this problem still exists in a big way. People love to care about recycling, however when it comes down to it, it’s in our nature to take the easiest route.

If recycling requires any sort of extra attention, it becomes less important.

If people are too busy or have other things on their mind, it becomes less important.

If it’s not made absolutely simple or the recycling bin is simply too far, it becomes less important.

I’ve tried to put up signs, I’ve tried to send emails, I’ve tried to make it as easy as possible – but to this day, whether at home or at work, I invariably will open the garbage bin and spend the next 5 minutes sorting what is usually 95% of the bin into the reycling bin.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I am obsessive and compulsive about this because of my specific experience. I don’t by any means expect everyone to get down and sort through dirty scraps and rotting trash on a daily basis to save the world.

But also, it’s 2018.

I’d like to say at some point if we don’t get our shit together, it’ll catch up with us – but honestly, it already has.

We have passed the point of no return. Ocean garbage patches make up islands bigger than the continental United States, garbage landfills dominate precious space while countries suffer from overpopulation, so much so that countries have taken to burning trash, further contributing to global warming.

I really did not mean for this to become an essay on the nature of humanity and the state of our world, but rather a message to motivate people to recycle.

So, here’s my rule of thumb I use to ensure I’m making more of a positive impact than negative on the world (and I’d be happy to hear your thoughts below).

Rule: Not sure if it’s recyclable? Just recycle it anyway (with the exception of organic waste).

You’re not an expert, however at recycling and sorting facilities, we pay billions of dollars in taxes to train individuals for that expertise. Otherwise, it will either sit in a landfill, an ocean, or be burned in a fire.

Increased labour requirements for extra sorting can be paid for by taxes.

There would be no difference in fuel consumed in transportation from roadside to recycling facilities instead of garbage centres/landfills (the total fuel consumed is the same).

There would be an increase in fuel consumed in transportation from waste deemed not recyclable by labourers from those recycling centres to garbage centres/landfills – however in the bigger picture, more available materials available for recycling and reuse leads to a lesser requirement for production of new products from raw material. This in turn means that less fuel is required to produce new product (plastic for example requires hydrocarbon both as a raw material and energy source for production.

Or, for your kids: Don’t know what to do? Throw it in the blue!