The Roanoker - September/October 2020 - 120

Transform
Your Takeout

Wash plastic takeout
containers and use to
store pre-cut veggies,
stocks, batch cooked
grains and leftovers.
Save single-use
condiment packets
for picnics and
potlucks or use
them as cooking
inspiration: soy
sauce plus hot
mustard equals your
new go-to grilling
marinade.
Keep unused singleuse utensils for
picnics, crafts or even
cooking-wooden
chopsticks can be
used as skewers, to
scramble eggs, stirfry veggies or flip
deep-fried foods.

Re-Think
Single-Use
Plastics
& Paper
Products
*

120

Ditch the plastic
wrap in favor of ecofriendly beeswax
wraps, especially
locally made ones
from Peacock Soap
Co.
Swap single-use
plastic bags for a
re-usable option like
Stasher bags, or wash
and re-use minimally
used plastic bags.
Use washable kitchen
towels instead of
paper towels for
tasks like wiping
up spills and drying
washed produce -LKH

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2020

Rethinking Plate Waste

No matter how tight a restaurant's menu or how
close it gets to zero-waste, there's still the issue of
uneaten plated food. One solution is for restaurants
to serve more modest portions, but even with Local
Roots' "reasonable" sizes, Elliot says plate waste is
inevitable. To combat this, she's working with a local
hog farmer to turn plate scraps into feed.
Diners can also help by taking leftovers home for
a round two meal. Hamill turns steakhouse leftovers
into a brunch hash by rewarming chopped steak
with sides like potatoes and asparagus.

Adopting Eco-Friendly
Packaging
Since COVID-19 has forced more restaurants to
pivot to take-out or increase to-go operations, ecofriendly packaging has become a renewed focus.
At RND Coffee Lounge, the Randolphs recently
switched to compostable corn-based plastic cups and

compostable paper cups. At Little
ABOVE:
Stockpile veggie
Green Hive, Ponce has always had
trimmings to
an eye for eco-friendly packaging,
make a flavorful
opting for recycled paper coffee
cooking stock.
cups and sleeves. She upgrades
as she goes through inventory, like switching to
commercially compostable plastic cups.
When it comes to the plastic straw conundrum,
neither have found an acceptable replacement. Though
paper straws get soggy quickly, Ponce still offers them,
along with bamboo straws that can be purchased and
re-used at home. Local Roots has found their ideal
replacement (though you must ask for it) called Hay!
Straws, which are biodegradable and made from wheat
straw.
But choosing the more Earth-friendly option
is often more expensive. Hamill has always used
compostable to-go boxes and straws, but as the
financial reality of shouldering additional costs in
the pandemic economy set in-increased volume of
takeout packaging, staff PPE and delivery company
fees-he believes that the cost of these eco-friendly
products may eventually fall to the consumer. I

TheRoanoker.com

LAYLA KHOURY-HANOLD

http://www.TheRoanoker.com

The Roanoker - September/October 2020

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