Monday, December 22, 2008

Park Cafe: Montana's Way of Saving Resources‏

At the East entrance to Glacier National Park, there is a very small restaurant creating a very big impact on the world around them. The Park Cafe, in St. Mary, Montana, appears to be just a small restaurant from the outside. And, as you walk in the front doors, your suspicions will be confirmed. It is a small restaurant. However, a more careful look into the caretaking of the restaurant will result in finding one of the most eco-friendly businesses in the United States.

In the kitchen you will see rows of plastic containers, most with no printing on them, but instead black marker. These containers range anywhere from two years in age to over thirty years in age. The owner of the restaurant, Kathryn Miller, does not believe in throwing anything away. She uses all of her resources to recycle and reuse and motto is that nothing will go to waste.

Plastic sour cream containers become dishes to store leftover food. Old yogurt containers become dishes for employees to bring with them on hikes through the park. Bread bags become to-go bags for the world famous pies and old uniforms become dish towels to clean the walls and floors. Everywhere you look within the cafe, you will find at least one resource that has been used thousands of times for unlimited reasons.

The saving of resources doesn't end there. There are no garbage bags in the trash cans because they create too much plastic waste. Instead all trash is thrown directly into a huge plastic can and then dumped several times a day by employees and scrubbed out at night. Each emptied container is not rinsed out it is cleaned with a spatula until there are remnants remaining that can only be removed with a scrubber.

At the end of the night, a two hour clean up ensues each shift to ensure that every container is spotless and every counter clean. She expects it clean because she knows if every item she has is properly taken care of every day, she will have it for more than twice as long as it is expected. In thirty years of business she has only replaced 1 toaster. Another way she conserves all resources, helping preserve the environment while saving money at the same time. Having grown up in California during the droughts, Kathryn also implements her knowledge of saving and reusing upon her employees.

In order to conserve water, each of the employees is hired after signing a contract agreeing to showering requirements. Each shower has a button on the shower head that will stop the water from coming out. Employees are to get into their communal showers and rinse off their bodies, then hitting the button to stop the water. Afterwards they are to shampoo, shave and lather up with no water, only to rinse off in the very end. Total amount of water usage is to be no longer than two or three minutes. This is just one of the ways Kathryn tries to save valuable natural resources.

As well as preserving and saving these resources, Kathryn is also a fan of the restoration of natural habitation. Behind the cafe is a miniature community where the employees live and play. To make up for the loss of natural habitation in this area, behind the houses she has created a bird sanctuary, full of feeders and over grown trees. There is habitation for hundreds of different birds which grace the cafe with their presence every summer.

The Park Cafe is not only the best place to get a slice of pie, it's also the best place to see the results of conservation and recycling. Businesses today will say it is impossible to be completely dedicated to the restoration of the earth. Kathryn is proving them wrong, one season at a time.

Richard Barthallo shares info on water damage and fire damage document issues. For more info go to:
http://www.localrestorations.com/Montana

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