Straws are something Kathy and Stu Bradford have been thinking a lot about. Along with tea bags, honey, cream, coffee cups and many other items.
Owners of the Barley Station Brew Pub, the Bradfords have been proponents of reducing, reusing and recycling for a long time.
“Stu’s a farmer from a way back,” smiles Kathy. “You have that mentality of saving and reusing.”
For years they’ve been conserving water, separating straws from other plastics, recycling and composting what they could.
They’ve also been talking with the owners of Spa Hills Compost for a while, considering a shift to full-scale composting.
In August, they did.
Their change fits well with the focus of the Columbia Shuswap Regional District, which plans to increase fees for mixed materials in a load of garbage.
Before imposing the fees, “we’d like to give businesses the next six months to get the education they need,” said Carmen Fennel, waste reduction facilitator with the CSRD. She says about 30 businesses in town are diverting compost. Spa Hills lists all those participating on its website.
Related link: CSRD aims to increase composting
Touring the Barley Station, bins, buckets and signs are a prominent part of the kitchen and serving area.
The signs designate which containers are for recycling, compost or garbage. The smallest are for garbage.
“We look at everything we do,” Kathy says. “We started looking at packaging – it’s all about convenience but we have to look at another solution… I think we all have to take a bit more responsibility – what we use, how we use and how we get rid of it.”
Instead of ordering milk for tea and coffee in small plastic containers, little jugs are filled with milk. Similarly with honey, customers are given individual servings with no plastic packaging.
One hindrance has been tea bags. The foil lining inside the individual tea bag packets means they can’t be recycled. Kathy has spoken to suppliers to lobby for a better packet.
Overwrap is now one of the biggest garbage items. Overall, Stu says, the garbage the pub produces has been reduced by two-thirds.
Cardboard and other paper products can be composted – after the tape and staples have been removed.
Coffee grounds and tea bags are composted, as is all food waste.
The takeout coffee cups are compostable – and, now, even the straws, which are not routinely given out. Aside from environmental reasons, compostable straws are expensive.
Kathy says she had to be a bit of a “garbage police,” while staff were being introduced to the changes.
“It’s just training and eventually it becomes habit.”
She points out that recyclable plastic is different than compostable as recyclable takes a long time to break down.
Related link: Curbside pickup possible
Asked what he thinks about the plan to increase fees for garbage loads that include mixed materials, Stu says the CSRD should go easy, acknowledging it’s a difficult issue.
“We’re probably the most regulated business in the world…,” he says of restaurants. “Yup, we need to do more. It’s good the people who have the ability to get into it. More fines don’t work for me. But I understand if people keep putting it off… It’s a tough one.”
The Barley Station’s in-house brewery recycles its ingredients. Spent grain goes to a farmer to feed cows, as well as to the Blue Canoe restaurant to make the Barley Station’s bread. As well, the pub makes dog biscuits from the spent grain.
Stu points out that the beer is sold in ‘growlers’ and ‘grumblers,’ which the customer takes home and then brings back. A similar system is used for the pub’s Kombucha.
He says the pub accumulates stacks of plastic pails, anywhere from one to five gallons, which he encourages the public to come and pick up. He asks that people just make a donation to cystic fibrosis.
“A buck a bucket or whatever they want to give.”
The same with the nylon bags – like a burlap sack, that the grain comes in. He suggests people call ahead and he’ll bring some in.
Adds Kathy: “Like Stu always says, ‘Saving the planet, one beer at a time.”
Over at the Salmar Grand, general manager Daila Duford says the Salmar theatres, with encouragement from Carmen Fennel of the Columbia Shuswap Regional District, is launching into a recycling/composting program.
“We didn’t realize how much was compostable. When Carmen came and talked to me, that opened my eyes a lot.”
She said her father is building some beautiful bins, which will be divided into recycling, compost and a small garbage area.
“A huge percentage of our stuff is compostable. Popcorn bags, popcorn, cups, napkins, and the lids are recyclable. We’re working on getting some compostable straws, and the lids are the only things not compostable.”
Duford says the theatres will also be educating moviegoers, with the help of in-house videos.
“We’re pretty darn excited.”
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