Here are some tips for vegetarian-friendly restaurants, natural food stores, or other places that provide natural, environmental products or services. Running a green business location is a great way to be consistent and to demonstrate commitment to the environment. If you aren't involved in running a business yourself, perhaps you know someone who is? If so let them know about this page. >> Take our survey If you have a business or restaurant in the Toronto area, please take our short 3-minute survey. The information will be used to create a special web page of Earth-friendly places.

For a print version open Green-business-tips.pdf (84Kb).

1. Serve a wide selection of vegetarian and vegan options. Eating low on the food chain is one of the best things anyone can do for the environment. Most places listed in the Vegetarian Directory are already doing an excellent job of this, but consider letting your customers know that vegetarian meals are good for the Earth. According to the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations, livestock is a major threat to the environment. Farm animal production accounts for 30% of the entire land surface of the planet and 18% of climate change.

2. Use locally-grown seasonal produce – especially in the warmer months. Make connections with farmers - many will supply restaurants with choice produce throughout the growing season. Or you can arrange bulk purchases at a local farmers' market. Consider making a garden for herbs and edible flowers.

3. Use organic ingredients. Customers concerned about their health as well as the environment will appreciate this. Our organic page has links for finding nearby farmers' markets.

4. For take-out provide biodegradable containers. For eat-in provide real dishes or use compostable plates and cutlery. The prices for these items have come down, and your customers will really appreciate not receiving styrofoam or plastic, as well as the convenience of being able to dispose of everything in their green bin. Here are three Toronto-based companies worth checking out:

• Bhumi – www.bhumiproducts.com
• Green Shift – www.greenshift.ca
• Core Sales – www.coresales.ca. Core Sales was at the Green Living Show and has a lot more products than shown on their website.
  
  

Another option would be to reward customers for bringing their own containers.

5. Provide a green bin (for compost), recycling container and garbage container, all with clear labels – especially if customers are expected to dispose of waste.

6. Discourage the use of plastic bags. Charge customers for them, reward those who bring their own, or provide a suitable alternative. For example Whole Foods has recently stopped offering plastic bags. Instead they encourage shoppers to bring their own, buy a durable bag or use paper. Karma Coop has not provided any grocery bags for years. Shoppers have learned to bring their own or they can grab a used bag from a container of bags brought in by people who have too many at home. CBC has an article about how China, San Francisco and a small town in Manitoba have all banned or restricted plastic bags.

7. Provide filtered water instead of bottled water. Plastic bottles are especially bad for the environment, and trucking or shipping water long distances causes pollution.

According to the Environmental Defense Fund, manufacturing the 30+ billion plastic water bottles bought just in the US alone in 2006:

• Required the equivalent of more than 17 million barrels of oil — enough to fuel more than one million vehicles for a year.
• Produced more than 2.5 million tons of carbon dioxide.
• Used three times the amount of water in the bottle.

And these numbers don’t include transporting the bottles. Nearly 25 percent of bottled water crosses national borders before reaching consumers. With transportation, the energy used adds up to over 50 million barrels of oil equivalent - enough to run 3 million cars for a year.

Plastic water bottles also come with health concerns.

8. Consider using non-toxic humane pest control if you have problems with mice, rats or insects. The ultimate solution is to seal all the cracks and holes on your premises. For a more immediate fix consider using live traps. Green Leaf Pest Control (www.greenleafpestcontrol.com) sells a remarkably effective mouse trap called the Ketch-All. They also provide other proven environmentally conscious alternatives to conventional pest control. A non-toxic solution also avoids the worries of breathing airborne chemicals and the risk of contaminating food. Also see veg.ca/mice.

9. Use non-toxic cleaners. At the Green Living Show, one company was selling a machine that  infuses cold tap water with an extra oxygen atom, creating a natural sanitizer – the same technology used to sterilize Olympic swimming pools and to clean hospitals.

10. Switch to green energy. Bullfrog Power has an excellent program that is very easy to set up. You can also apply even if you rent and do not pay for electricity directly. They will help you determine your electricity usage, and then match that with green power injected onto the grid on your behalf. You will receive a special sign to let visitors know that you are bullfrog-powered. See www.bullfrogpower.com

11. Use water conservation measures. Install 6-litre flush toilets and low flow faucets. This step will save you money

12. Other ideas: Consider offering a discount to cyclists with helmets or transit riders with passes. Install compact florescent light bulbs. Install a green roof – Urban Herbivore is doing this. Upgrade your refrigerators and dishwashers to more energy efficient models. If you renovate, use green building materials. If you have delivery vehicles, upgrade to more fuel efficient models.

More information:

Urge your favorite restaurant to go green