How Denver restaurants are becoming more green

(Denver, Colo) Restaurants face many challenges when they try to implement eco-friendly initiatives. From massive walk-in refrigerators to churning out hundreds of meals, it’s probably not surprising that restaurants typically use more energy than other types of commercial buildings.

Plus, food waste efforts typically happen at the household level and the pandemic-induced takeout surge led to a glut of single-use plastics and landfill-bound Styrofoam. (To combat this, Denver has a new ordinance that prevents single-use utensils from automatically being placed in takeout orders and there’s a forthcoming statewide ban on Styrofoam).

But several Denver area restaurants want to take things a step further and shake things up in the food and beverage industry by pioneering new practices and technologies to reduce their carbon footprints.