Why did you decide to make Spring a single-use plastic free restaurant and how did you manage to do it?
Back in 2018, I attended a talk by Sian Sutherland of a Plastic Planet. It really opened my eyes to the damage our use of single-use plastics was having on the planet. I felt inspired to do something about it so I went back to the restaurant and expressed my concern.
We were quite structured and focused in our approach. We started by having a screening of A Plastic Ocean, then we brainstormed as a team how we could tackle our own situation, nomiating key people in each department. The first step was understanding just how much single-use plastic we were using. Then we identified ways we could live without it altogether and where that wasn’t possible, viable non-plastic alternatives were sourced. Our success lay entirely in the willingness of the team to make a change. Creating statistics had the most impact for everyone, for example we worked out that we had used almost 6000km of clingfilm since opening in 2014 – and we are just one restaurant in one city!
What benefits have you seen as a result of bringing in measures to tackle sustainability challenges?
For us, we have really enjoyed being part of a solution rather than contributing to the problem. Having a common goal has made us closer as a team and we enjoy the the challenge. It was definitely a lot of hard work but created a tremendous amount of satisfaction and pride as well.
What would be your three top tips for other hospitality venues looking to make their business more environmentally friendly?
- Get your facts and stats in place.
- Get your team on board by educating them about the problems. Let everyone’s voices be heard - lots of unexpected people have brilliant ideas.
- Break through the initial hard work and challenges - it will become easier and will be immensely satisfying.
