A Hamilton City Council initiative is helping reduce the amount of waste sent to landfill by hiring out crockery and cutlery at local events. The ‘Silver Service’ is a self-contained mobile caravan equipped with crockery, cutlery and a dishwashing facility.
The concept was developed by Gourmet in the Gardens and will allow customers to hire their cutlery and crockery before returning it to the caravan for washing and reuse. This eliminates the need for disposable containers, plates and cutlery used at events. The initiative is a partnership between the Council and Gourmet in the Gardens, which organises food truck events throughout the Waikato.
Tania Simpson, Gourmet in the Gardens Director, estimated that Silver Service will divert 6,000 to 7,000 thousand litres of waste from landfill each night Gourmet in the Gardens is on.
“Throughout the years we have seen first-hand the amount of waste generated at food truck events,” she said. “We have had various suggestions from our customers about ways we could reduce our event waste, however we wanted a solution which focused on reducing and reusing, instead of recycling or composting.”
A percentage from the crockery hire revenue each week will be donated to Waikato Hospice.
