Bar Waste 101: Reducing and Reusing with Brendan Bartley
Since its opening in 2018, Manhattan’s 18th Room has wasted no time in creating and executing innovative, environmentally conscious bar programs. From developing a zero-waste cocktail menu to educating its staff on sustainable practices, the 18th Room has earned its reputation as an industry leader.
At the start of 2020, Endless West unveiled a three-part bartender workshop series focusing entirely on sustainability. In the first workshop, we were fortunate enough to speak with host and Beverage Director of The 18th Room, Brendan Bartley, whose session focused on reducing the hidden waste created from running a bar (i.e. shipping boxes, food packaging, and the like). During our conversation, Brendan spoke to the challenges 18th Room has faced in implementing its programs, the results of the bar’s efforts and programs thus far, and the general shift in industry mindsets towards environmental awareness.
The 18th Room is unique for its “No Impact” cocktail program. Could you speak to one of the challenges you all have had in implementing the program and how you all have overcome that hurdle?
The lack of education on how waste is impacting the environment, and its social structure was surprising. Especially for a major city. Also, the lack of facilities. Especially now that China has stopped taking most of the world’s recycling. There doesn’t seem to be a contingency plan.
We tackled this by looking at what we can do at ground level to stop creating waste and how we can upcycle what we do have.
As far as education, that is all done in house. So, no drink or food item can go on our menu unless we have a solution to use all parts of an ingredient. This just means all the staff have to do research on alternative ways to use products and ingredients. In the age of technology, we have a myriad of information at our fingertips. Looking at how other people have solved problems and talking as a team we seem to be getting better and better at this.
In addition to The 18th Room’s sustainable cocktail program, what are other ways that the bar has worked to reduce its impact and what difference have these actions made for the bar over time?
In addition to our cocktail program, we also look at the impact our industry has on society and the environment and see if there is an area we can help with. As a team we have been a part of beach clean ups with Bacardi, our bottles and cans go to the projects across the street to give to the people who take them in for money collection, we just raised money for the Australian bushfire appeal. There are many things we do outside of cocktails that are focused on this. This is where we really focus, making sure our impact is felt on a community and industry level.
In your point of view, what have been the top two changes in bars, restaurants, and bartender mindsets towards sustainability?
The two biggest changes I’ve noticed in the industry are changes in thinking. People are starting to be conscious of their choices, what they’re wasting, and also products they’re buying.
I think the second biggest change is the mentality that the best drinks have to be made from the “best” part of an ingredient. I think there has been a display of great ingenuity when it comes to how to use all parts of an ingredient.
Who are your sustainability champions in the bar world?
The champion bars leading the way in sustainability are places like “Native bar” in Singapore, who are using native local ingredients and are growing plants on site to use for the bar. Also bars like “Dandelyan” in London, doing really creative things with fermentations and responsible environmental practices. But there are bars all around the world who do the right thing just because it’s their everyday practice. Being environmentally conscious should be the rule not the exception.
What project, venture, aspect of sustainability that you’ve tackled have you been the proudest of?
What aspect am I most proud of in what we have tackled in sustainability? I wouldn’t say any of it right now. It’s an ongoing process that we are trying to improve every day. To go back on what I mentioned before, this should be the norm, trying not to harm the planet or animals or people on it shouldn’t be something we should be proud of, it should be something we just do. We’re not looking for high-fives from bar community for doing the right thing, we’re just looking to be a part of something bigger in the hospitality community, to be a part of the evolution and development of our industry. I am most proud of my team at the 18th room. They came into this not knowing where it was going, and we have grown together on this journey.
