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Subway sandwiches launches first fast-food recycling program
Subway sandwiches launches first fast-food recycling program
mongabay.com
November 21, 2007
Sandwich chain Subway is implementing a recycling program, switching from conventional napkins, cutlery and plastic cups, and reducing gasoline use in an effort to minimize its impact on the environment, according to a report published in The Wall Street Journal.
Subway–the largest restuarant chain in the United States with 22,000 locations–becomes the first fast-food major to offer in-store recycling. The Wall Street Journal says that other companies will be watching its initiative closely to see whether it is a viable option for their operations. Presently fast-food restuarants say recycling is too costly since most cities do not accept food-tainted recycled material.
“The nation’s largest restaurant chains have made scant progress in offering recycling for customers,” writes Janet Adamy. “No other major fast-food chain, including McDonald’s Corp., Burger King Corp., Yum Brands Inc.’s KFC and Taco Bell and Wendy’s International Inc., said it has recycling bins for customer trash at its restaurants in the U.S. Starbucks Corp. has recycling bins at some cafes on the East Coast, but they don’t accept the chain’s paper coffee cups because those can’t be recycled, according to the coffee company.”
Subway’s initiatives are being rolled out in an “eco-store” it opened this month in Kissimmee, Florida. The restaurant offers recycling bins and was constructed using recycled materials. It also uses more efficient heating and cooling systems, water-conserving plumbing, and low power-consumption lighting. Nationwide the sandwich-maker has switched to napkins that use 100 percent recycled materials, of which 60 percent is post-consumer recyclable material. The firm has abandoned polystyrene cutlery and drinking cups for polypropylene-based materials and figures to save 13,000 barrels of oil annually.