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The study found that owners, managers, haulers, corporate head offices, and restaurant associations were not adequately aware of correct source separation practices.
There was a lack of awareness among haulers regarding:
There was a lack of awareness among corporate head offices of quick-service restaurants and Restaurant Associations regarding:
It is important that owners and managers, corporate head offices, and restaurant associations receive education on these issues.
Restaurant chains with corporate head offices pose a particular challenge. Franchise or outlet owners and managers are limited in the changes that they are able to implement in their stores. Waste hauling contracts, décor and layout guidelines, and policies regarding training and staff duties are often dictated by head office, which is usually located out of province.
Education is important in increasing awareness, and is fundamental to implementation of correct source separation practices. It is important that educators work with restaurants closely, in order to ensure that owners and managers feel like they are part of the process, rather than being burdened with more legislation. Currently, there is a lack of educational support. Most owners and managers stated they had not received any assistance in their waste resource management. Many waste coordinators wish to have a clear message to convey to restaurant owners and managers prior to proceeding with sustained educational initiatives.
Support from a waste educator was key to the implementation of the source separation program in Bridgewater. All participating restaurant owners and managers mentioned that Richard Wilson’s assistance was central to their waste separation activities. He started by making the necessary contacts in the restaurants and “talking, talking, talking.” He gave assistance such as taking the necessary digital pictures to create individualized signs for the restaurants involved. He was available for ongoing consultation from restaurant owners during every step of the process and, as well, helped to promote their efforts in the media.
In Region 7 (Western Region), Tim Hortons franchisee David Arnburg assisted by Amy Hillyard, the waste reduction coordinator for the area, spearheaded corporate support for front-of-the-counter source separation in Tim Hortons locations throughout Nova Scotia.
A strategy should be developed where corporate head offices are systematically approached and engaged in the issue of source separation, because in some cases, it may be inefficient or ineffective to approach individual restaurants. A task force or steering committee comprised of staff from the Department of Environment and Labour, RRFB Nova Scotia, and members of the Nova Scotia Association of Waste Reduction Coordinators could be specifically responsible for this task. This task force would decide on a systematic method of approaching corporate head offices that would be implemented uniformly across the province.
The same task force would be responsible for ensuring that there is effective communication with relevant stakeholders and work towards clarifying the roles and responsibilities of each stakeholder involved. In order to facilitate the important work of developing relationships between stakeholders, it may be valuable to establish a stakeholder committee. This will provide a venue for building awareness and will give a voice to a variety of groups who currently have little opportunity to articulate their concerns and opinions, such as restaurant owners and managers, and waste haulers.
It is recommended that in each of the seven waste management regions, there should be a staff person designated to work on waste education in the quick-service restaurant sector. More designated staff will be required in regions with higher numbers of quick-service restaurants. Each waste educator for this sector should develop a formalized strategy for approaching quick-service restaurants and tracking activities, such as the strategy developed by Darlene Proctor in Region 3 (see Waste Coordinator Template PDF). The regional waste educators’ strategy for approaching corporate restaurant chains would be determined by the provincial task force responsible for working with corporate head offices. It is key that the regional waste educators are “out and about” in restaurants and that they are available to provide individual attention when necessary.
The tasks of the regional waste educators would be comprehensive and could be supported by youth corps or other student staffing. Tasks could include:
Much of this information could be compiled into a package that could be given to owners and managers for future reference.
Waste coordinators expressed a need for educational material to provide to restaurant owners and managers. In particular, coordinators requested a pamphlet that would contain the following information:
As well, based on the responses from restaurant owners and managers, it would be useful for certain materials to be available online, to be downloaded at their convenience. Items to be included on a website could include:
As a further incentive for quick-service restaurants to have effective source separation programs in place in front-of-the-counter, a provincial environmental reward system could be established.
Green Leaf™ Eco-rating Program is an environmental reward system geared towards hotels. A similar program could be tailored to Nova Scotia’s quick-service restaurants. Green Leaf™ is a graduated rating system to identify a hotel’s commitment to improving the environment and saving money. Member hotels are ranked on a scale of one leaf (i.e. statement of commitment) to five leaves (world leader in environmental policies and initiatives). Green Leaf™ is an initiative of an Ottawa-based consulting firm. More information is available at www.terrachoice.com.
The Natural Step is an international non-profit organization founded in Sweden that uses a science-based systems framework to help organizations become more sustainable. It categorizes environmental problems and possible solutions in order to make informed decisions. It has worked with high profile corporations, such as McDonald’s and Starbucks to implement fundamental overhauls of operational systems resulting in exciting environmental improvements and cost reductions. Through its work with the Natural Step, McDonald’s in Sweden has eliminated the need for over 1,200 tonnes of packaging and now recycles 97% of all its waste (See McDonald’s Case Study). The Natural Step has a Canadian office based in Toronto. More information is available at www.naturalstep.ca.