In 2009 two things happened pertaining to local restaurants and the recycling challenges they face. In July the Weekly Volcano's Paul Schrag shined a light on the dilemma faced by Matador and every other bar and restaurant in town: recycling the enormous amount of glass they go through (think booze and wine bottles) is expensive. Like most other cities, Tacoma requires restaurants and bars to pay for their own glass recycling pickup, a proposition that can add up fast when you're going through the number of bottles most bars in Tacoma go through.

Almost simultaneous to the publishing of Schrag's story, an employee at Duke's Chowder House on Ruston Way told me of the restaurant's own glass recycling issues.

The only difference between the two was Duke's Chowder House was proactively doing something about the issue, and taking glass matters into their own hands.

"Hundreds of pounds of waste are produced in a restaurant, and it used to just get thrown into the trash," Duke's Chowder House Manager Jake Wheeler tells me.

I think we all know trash ultimately ends up in a landfill. Most restaurant trash items include food, napkins, straws and lots and lots of glass.

Although it may be breaking news to some restaurant patrons, the general public has recently been made aware of the high costs food and beverage-wielding businesses have faced in the past when trying to find a respectable home for their waste.

Well, Duke's employees had seen enough garbage. So they began to take on their own recycling efforts at a much cheaper rate. Duke's bartenders had watched the large amount of glass bottles being thrown away and decided to keep an extra bag available to collect the glass separately.  With their own vehicles, the staff transported large quantities of used bottles to a local recycling center, thus creating one of the first green effort amongst the Ruston Way lineup of restaurants.

As of right now, the City of Tacoma offers businesses a recycling program consisting of mixed (paper, plastic, aluminum, tin), glass and cardboard.  The fees are legitimate, and if a restaurant is truly interested in doing its part the City of Tacoma is not getting in their way ... but it will charge restaurants for the services provided. Especially in economically difficult times, restaurants can be tempted to save the money by simply chucking everything in the trash.

Besides the excessive amount of plastic, glass and cardboard waste any restaurant can produce, what about all of the food waste?  Although biodegradable, there's a better option when it comes to edible trash. 

That option, my friends, would be composting.

As of this past July, Duke's Chowder House staff are specifically trained to dispose of certain items in a marked composting bin. From there, the waste is thrown into three larger bins outside, and the contents of those bins are ultimately picked up and composted.

In addition, the City of Tacoma is currently running a one-year trial composting service to end late this summer and Duke's was chosen as one of only a handful of restaurants to participate. If the city determines the project to be a success, widespread cost and service specifics will be determined at the end of the trial period.

"It's great for everyone involved, and it actually saves us money. It is less expensive to have the composting bin picked up instead of paying for trash pick up," Wheeler says with a smile. "We've then lowered our trash pick up rate from two times a week to one time a week."

Other environmentally friendly moves made by Duke's Chowder House include choosing biodegradable to-go boxes, biodegradable straws and only using cloth napkins. Glass liquor bottles are reused to house Duke's homemade infused vodka, and all of their grease waste is turned into alternative fuel.

Aside from the all-natural chicken and beef, Duke's only serves wild seafood - never farmed. Beginning this week, all maraschino cherries and green beans used in the bar are organic, which fits with the restaurant's continued efforts to buy organic vegetables when possible. 

"We're not at 100 percent, but every little bit counts," Duke's Chowder House General Manager Shannon Kamalu says with happiness, "and the changes we make are what is right for our guests."

Duke's Chowder House

3327 Ruston Way, Tacoma
253.752.5444

LINK: Paul Schrag's "Clear Dilemma" story