Sustainability Synthesis Essay
| Subject: | 🌷 Environment |
| Type: | Synthesis Essay |
| Pages: | 3 |
| Word count: | 786 |
| Topics: | ♻️ Recycling, Waste Management |
essay ASAP?
Sustainability practices could be defined as the processes involved in ensuring that the available resources are fully utilized in any field of operation. Such methods include reusing, recycling and proper management of various resources used in production practices (Baldwin, 2015). Sustainability practices are undertaken in such a way that they would have a negligible influence on the environment while ensuring that the targets of future generations are achieved through the sustainability practices. Sustainability practices apply to barely every sector of the economy today. The food service industry is one sector where sustainability practices are crucial. The methods are implemented in foodservice industry when handling water and other resources within the industry. Reusing various food resources that are not fully utilized is one way of ensuring that sustainability is maintained (Baldwin, Wilberforce, & Kapur, 2013). The water recycling and reuse practices within the industry are the other sustainability practices within the foodservice industries that are important both for the organizations and the environment. The water recycling and reuse practices are important in the foodservice industry are important in ensuring sustainable of water as a resource through minimizing the volumes of waste water from the firms in the industry (Baldwin, Wilberforce, & Kapur, 2013). Changing the trends in water use through recycling and re-use of water is effective in addressing water scarcity especially in populated urban areas as well as reducing the operation cost in the food service industry.
Composting is the process of transforming biodegradable wastes into compost, which is the soil rich in plant nutrients attained after the biological breakdown of organic matter (Sartaj, Fernandes, & Patni, 2017). Composting is one useful way of effective managing wastes in the society due to the increased pressure on landfills due to increased waste generation resulting in insufficient land for more landfills. There are various methods of composting; the most common methods of composting are continuous and batch composting methods (Sartaj, Fernandes, & Patni, 2017). The continuous composting process would be favorable for use at homes and organizations where there is a continuous flow of organic wastes. In the foodservice industry, continuous compositing is effective in managing the frequent waste generated on a daily basis since the industry uses organic products as the raw material. On the other hand, the batch composting method involves piling the organic material over time and compost the material at once without adding any other organic material that is generated from time to time with the foodservice industry (Sartaj, Fernandes, & Patni, 2017). The batch compositing is applicable in cases where large amounts of wastes are handled at once. In the food service industry, composting is an effective method of managing waste because of the large volume of organic waste generated that would be appropriate for composting. The products for compositing include food wastes, green vegetables that might not be utilized in time and other organic substances not used in time during the processes of the organization.
In ensuring sustainability, recycling is an important practice that protects the environment from pollution because products that might have been harmful to the environment are recycled (Baldwin, Wilberforce, & Kapur, 2013). Recycling leads to the development new products hence a competitive advantage for the organization as it would be forced to purchase new products if the already used ones are not recycled. Recycling also saves the environment from greenhouse gasses that would be emitted from the wastes through incineration or dumping. Also, recycling saves energy that would have been applied in handling raw materials or transportation of new materials among other practices by the organization (Baldwin, 2015). The waste products from the foodservice industry that are appropriate for recycling include waste water and materials used in packaging products in the industry.
For a restaurant, the waste control practices would be most notably applicable in the kitchen and washing areas. The amounts of water used in cleaning the restaurant and the utensils should be managed such that it can be recycled appropriately (Baldwin, 2015). The kitchen is the point within the restaurant that would most likely receive more organic wastes than any other part of the restaurant. Therefore the recycling practices of controlling wastes should be applied to the restaurant kitchen to ensure effectiveness of the process. In Colorado State, there are certain specifications concerning composting and recycling (Baldwin, Wilberforce, & Kapur, 2013). The specifications include the overall management of solid wastes, management of wastes from consumers and the recycling of liquid wastes from organizations. However, the specifications in recycling for Colorado are mainly concerned with the management of liquid and organic wastes to ensure sustainability in the industries. The approach to sustainability as identified earlier protects both the organization and the environment at the same time.
- Baldwin, C. J. (Ed.). (2015). Sustainability in the food industry. John Wiley & Sons.
- Baldwin, C., Wilberforce, N., & Kapur, A. (2013). Restaurant and food service life cycle assessment and development of a sustainability standard. The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment, 16(1), 40-49.
- Sartaj, M., Fernandes, L., & Patni, N. K. (2017). Performance of forced, passive, and natural aeration methods for composting manure slurries. Transactions of the ASAE-American Society of Agricultural Engineers, 40(2), 457-464.
Offered for reference purposes only.