Carbon neutral Chambar

To be carbon neutral, one leaves no carbon footprint.  The goal is to have your net carbon emissions to be zero, and can be accomplished by reducing your carbon output (ex. using renewable energy, recycling) AND purchasing carbon offsets (in essence, paying to have someone else “unpollute” the atmosphere through reforestation and clean energy projects). This sounds challenging and a full commitment — but I’m proud to say that one my favorite restaurants in the city of Vancouver, Chambar, has made and has been keeping with this promise since 2011.

(Now here comes the shameless gushing of this restaurant) Located next to the Stadium-Chinatown skytrain station, Chambar specializes in Belgian-French fusion food, and is the sister company to Cafe Medina (my favorite place for a weekend brunch) right next door. The food is spectacular, from its moules et frites to its vanilla pear cake for dessert … While I was browsing through its menu on its website (and drooling at every food item), I came across its page describing its carbon neutrality commitment and its sustainable initiatives. Some of their sustainable acts include:

• “All soaps and hand cleaning products are EcoLogo™, Green Seal™ certified, or meeting the criteria for LEED™ recognition
•  All paper used at Chambar, including menus and stationery is 100% post consumer recycled, and all printing is done using soy based inks.
• Paper towel dispensers have been removed and replaced with energy efficient hand dryers which save more than 150,000 paper towels per year.
• All other paper products including cocktail napkins and toilet paper are 80% post consumer recycled.
• Food service packaging and consumables are biodegradable and compostable in accordance with ASTM standard D6400
• All used menu paper is made into server ordering pads
• Glass, cans, cardboard and plastics are recycled
• Chambar Ale bottles are all cleaned and reused.
• Food waste goes to community garden composting.
• Chambar purchased 80 tones of Gold Standard carbon offsets from Less Emissions.  Less Emissions was ranked #1 by the David Suzuki Foundation and Pembina Institute in 2009.
• Chambar is a part of the Sri Balaji Renewable Power Plant. This project in India, uses agricultural plant waste from the surrounding area including rice and cotton husks, to generate electricity.”
• (taken from their website: http://www.chambar.com/)

Along with the delicious food, Chambar offers yet another reason as to why I love this place. Perhaps one of the main reasons why a company in the food industry is able to dedicate so much to sustainable efforts is its financial capital, so I would not expect such a big commitment from smaller restaurants any time soon, but surely this sets an example for other successful restaurants to devote some of their time and invest in carbon neutrality. I hope to see more companies making this commitment in the near future, but for now, indulge a little and check out Chambar when you have the chance.