Team:Lethbridge HS/HP localbusiness
Fusion Sushi
Our team wanted to gather the input of restaurants on our project, as they deal with a good amount of food waste. We chose to interview Anni Huang, the owner and manager of fusion sushi, a local restaurant. We thought that this restaurant would be a good choice as their food is served in “all you can eat” style. Customers pay one price, and are then allowed to order as much of whatever foods they want. The restaurant operates this way with a policy in place regarding food waste, if there is to be any left over food on the table customers will be charged. They are then allowed to take the food home, but this policy is mainly in place to avoid wasting food. Anni told us that she felt this policy reduced food waste significantly. Although this is the only procedure the restaurant has in place to avoid food, Anni feels it is very effective. She believes that composting would not be the best solution for her restaurant as she worries it may attract pests.
Community Gardening
Our team wanted to get a better understanding of composting at a larger scale, so we reached out to local community gardens to gain a better understanding. We wanted to understand the successes and failures experienced with composting. To get a better understanding of how various composting techniques were implemented and the level of interest composting receives from community members. Afterall, they will be one of our consumers. Our team reached out to two gardens and each had different experiences and information to share. Our team wanted to get a better understanding of composting at a larger scale, so we reached out to local community gardens to gain a better understanding. We wanted to understand the successes and failures experienced with composting. To get a better understanding of how various composting techniques were implemented and the level of interest composting receives from community members. Afterall, they will be one of our consumers. Our team reached out to two gardens and each had different experiences and information to share.
The Copperwood Community Garden is fairly new to composting. In a conversation with them we learnt that they started off using wood boxes but that proved too challenging so within a year, they had switched to Earth Machines provided by the city. One negative that they found was that composting with a large group was not as effective as they would have liked. People were using the composters as garbage bins and throwing whatever waste they could find inside the composters. Because of their location, they do not receive many food scraps, mainly garden materials but even though the interest is not as high as they expected, the drive to continue and bring awareness to the food waste problem is there and they are continuing strong.
Another garden we contacted was the Interfaith Learning Garden Centre which has a maximum of 50 people limit that haven’t been reached since they opened. But they capture more attention with their events like school tours and people casually coming in and going out. They use a 5 year old 3 bin system made up of wooden crates. Because the system does not have a consistent person in charge, it has not been the most effective but they were able to use their compost this year as a fertilizer. The composting system is kept small, lowest cost possible and very straight forward. Currently, a system is being put in place to have a more constant person in charge instead of new faces every summer.
