Midsouth Magazine

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Writer Christian T. Owen Margaret Mead, an American cultural anthropologist, once said, "A small group of thoughtful people could change the world. Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has." Project Green Fork, the Re-Hy Bottle Company and Slow Food Memphis represent this philosophy by guiding the mid-South in an eco-conscious direction. Project Green Fork Project Green Fork (PGF) contributes to a sustainable mid-South by helping reduce environmental impacts, with a focus on strengthening homegrown restaurants. August 5, 2010 was the organization's birthday; for two years they have been helping restaurants reduce waste by means of education, communication, assistance and certification. "Helping restaurants reduce waste reduces landfill space," Executive Director Margot McNeeley explains. "I formed the program because restaurants create more waste than any other retail sector, but the city doesn't offer a service to help them recycle." The staff of Project Green Fork focuses on diverting kitchen waste and turning that waste into compost. "We also insist that the restaurants we work with do away with Styrofoam and replace toxic cleaners with non-toxic cleaners. This helps keep our waterways cleaner." PGF certifies restaurants as practicing sustainability based on six steps: Have sustainable products in place; set-up a recycling program; implement kitchen composting; replace toxic cleaners with non-toxic cleaners; complete an energy audit and take necessary steps to reduce energy and water consumption; and engage in pollution prevention. McNeeley asserts, "I can't tell you how many times I've had people tell me they choose where to dine based on who is signed on with PGF. We've consulted with churches, schools and even yoga studios but we only certify restaurants." Their most recent recruit is Huey's Midtown. "If all goes well there, which so far, so good, we'll see about getting the rest of the locations on board. A complete list of PGF-certified restaurants is available on their Website. PGF is currently raising funds for a new recycling trailer, and they have just started the process of applying for "green grants." September 26 is the date for their first fall fundraiser, "Loving Local," at the Ghost River Brewery. Sponsors include Metro Moto Vespa, St. Blues Guitar, Ghost River Brewery and Central BBQ. To date, they also have a spring supper each year. The first was in 2009, held at PGF's first certified restaurant, Tsunami. The second was in May 2010 at Sekisui Midtown. Both were sold-out events and highly successful fundraisers. For more information about these events and PGF-certified restaurants, visit www.projectgreenfork.org . Re-Hy Bottle Company The Re-Hy Bottle Company creates re-useable glass engraved bottles from post-consumer use bottles. Re-Hy works with Memphis area restaurants and Project Green Fork to rescue glass bottles headed for landfills. Re-Hy takes each bottle through a three-part sanitation process, removes the labels and then engraves the bottles with designs, inspirational sayings, personalization and custom order requests. Research for the idea behind Re-Hy Bottle began three and half years ago.

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