Greening Ethnic Restaurants

Ritu Primlani, founder of Thimmakka’s Resources for Environmental Education, is on a remarkable mission. Through her brainchild, Greening Ethnic Restaurants (GER), Primlani reaches out to Indian and other Asian eateries with little environmental knowledge and transforms them into “green” enterprises. That’s no easy feat, considering that restaurants consume more energy per square foot than any other industry, gobbling water and producing huge amounts of solid waste. Add in the difficulty of approaching overworked restaurant owners who rarely speak fluent English, and the task seems nearly impossible. “Given that these are small, family-owned businesses, they really don’t have the money or time to make changes,” says Primlani. “They may want to help the environment, but it just doesn’t seem possible.” So Primlani focuses on fianncial benefits, demonstrating how environmental changes can increase efficiency and save dollars. Participating restaurants, mostly in the San Francisco area, spend a maximum of 24 hours a year improving in four areas: water and energy conservation, waste reduction and pollution prevention. Environmental experts assess the premises pro bono, accompanies by GER volunteers who translate for the owner. After the assessment, the restaurant chooses several environmental measures to enact. GER helps research and implement the reforms, often using […]

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