Getting to (or as close to) “0” Waste is the Green Team’s goal. What does that mean?  All of our waste/garbage will be composted, recycled, reused, e-wasted; nothing will go into landfill. St. Francis, patron saint of ecology, would be proud that we are doing our share in being good stewards of our mother Earth. This also means that we save on our garbage bills – increasing our compost and recycling volume lowers our garbage bills.

The average American generates about 5 pounds of solid trash a day!   In a year’s time, that equals 1,825 pounds of trash per person.  The population of the United States gets rid of about 210 million tons of junk every year!  Schools, hospitals, businesses and government agencies also produce a lot of garbage.

All of this garbage has to go somewhere, usually a landfill.  Garbage is dumped into a landfill and is then covered with dirt.  The United States and the rest of the world is quickly running out of landfill space. The answer to this landfill shortage is simply for people to compost, recycle and reuse. 

Landfills also cause another problem.  When rain or snow falls on the landfills and then seeps into the garbage, they turn into a poisonous, soupy liquid called leachate.  This leachate sinks into the ground and pollutes the groundwater under the landfill.  It also can leak into streams, lakes and natural wells. If this poisonous liquid gets into our drinking water it is very expensive and difficult to purify the water to get rid of this contaminated substance.

Over the past months St. Anthony’s has composted and recycled on average about 65% of its’ garbage.  With our focused goal  of “0” Waste   in mind we are doing our best to get to over 80%; then hopefully soon after 100 % of our waste/ garbage will be composted, recycled, reused or e-wasted.  The Green Team’s goal of “0” Waste will be challenging but we are determined to get there.

San Francisco’s Historic Dining Room Exemplifies sustainability for the environment and the poor

St. Anthony Dining Room has been serving free meals to the poor since 1950. Today, as the San Francisco unemployment rate soars to 12.5% and more people are in need of a hot meal, St. Anthony’s continues to offer sustainably managed, healthy and filling meals 365 days a year at an average food preparation cost of 44 cents per serving. This conscious recipe of food reclamation and resource management, recycling and composting is essential to St. Anthony’s everyday sustainability, and exemplifies a sustainability

More than 75% of the 6,000 pounds of food that is prepared and served each day to San Francisco’s hungriest residents is reclaimed food, such as second-harvest fruits and vegetables or day old baked goods from bakeries, which would otherwise be thrown away. To continue the cycle of local sustainability, 70% of the waste matter (from preparation scraps to unfinished meals) from St. Anthony Dining Room is composted or recycled, which is then used as soil amendment for local farms.

“Earth Day is really about bringing awareness to responsible utilization of our resources, which the poor have always had to do. At St. Anthony’s we feed a lot of people every day, but we do it with serious consideration of the resources at hand. Food gets transformed to nourishment, waste gets transformed to compost, compost gets transformed to food. And lives get transformed in the process.” Noted St. Anthony’s Deputy Executive Director, Linda Pasquinucci.

St. Anthony Foundation’s programs help heal individuals and families with programs that provide a gateway out of poverty, including a Dining Room which serves 2600 meals every day, a free clothing program, a technology lab, residential drug and alcohol recovery program, and a free medical clinic. St. Anthony Foundation does not accept any federal, state, or local government money for its programs, and is entirely funded by private donations.

St. Anthony Dining Room believes every day should be Earth Day.

Every healthy and filling dish is created with 4,500 pounds of reclaimed food to serve 2,700 meals. Food that would otherwise thrown away such as second-harvest produce, or day old baked goods gets a second chance for usefulness at St. Anthony’s.

In addition to a stringent recycling policy, at the end of each day St. Anthony Dining Room composts all of the waste food items (from preperation scraps to unfinished meals), in a model system of ongiong efficency and sustainability. 70% of the waste matter of St. Anthony Dining Room is composted or recycled, which is used to enrich the soil at local farms.

Our values of respectful resource management and the conscious efforts of personal and material sustainability are an intrinsic part of the operations and culture of St. Anthony Dining Room.

Hey again, Sam the intern here. So, I’ve lived in San Francisco for almost 4 years now, and man has it flown by. As I prepare to graduate from the University of San Francisco I have learned many things. What stands out to me the most is how tolerant and accepting this wonderful city is. San Francisco is a paradise for the dreamer, the hippie, the beats, the gays, the wealthy, the student … you get the picture. During the past four years it seems I can’t turn on the TV without hearing two words: homeless (and other variations of) and environmentally friendly. This incredibly progressive city has made it their mission to help the people who live there whether they are homeless addicts, organic growers, or Marina establishment owners, like our beloved celebrity Mayor Gavin Newsom.

“Hunger shouldn’t be an option,” says the SF Food Bank, but unfortunately 150,000 people in San Francisco struggle to find food everyday. Many of our guests are forced to skip meals, eat less – or eat less well, and even give up food in order to pay rent. During this week, which has become a worldwide celebration of our Mother Earth, also be a reminder of how many people struggle to avoid hunger every single day.

The first Earth Day was celebrated by 20 million people worldwide on April 22, 1970. Earth Day is now observed each year on April 22 by more than 500 million people and national governments in 175 countries. Earth Day has evolved since its 1970 inception into a global celebration of the environment and our commitment to its protection. On the 39th Annual Earth Day the Dining Room will be serving  delicious chicken and noodles spiced with paprika. Rich in vitamin C,  Paprika is a spice made from the grinding of many dried sweet red or green bell peppers, and added to many dishes for flavor and color.

April 20 Chicken Teriyaki: served with rice

April 21 Pasta w/Braised Pork: flavored with a lemon, rosemary, and caper sauce

April 22 Earth Day Chicken Paprika: served with noodles and fresh vegetables

April 23 Tuna Casserole: Angel hair pasta, peas, and carrots with a light cream sauce

April 24 Lemon Oregano Chicken w/Orza: fresh vegetables

April 25 Tuscan Pork Ragu: simmered with beans, tomatoes, olives, capers, and garlic

April 26 Jerked Chicken: served with rice and greens

Check back every Monday for that week’s installments of On The Menu!

St. Anthony Dining Room will celebrate Earth Day with a healthy vegetarian meal of organic greens from Greeleaf Produce, freshly stuffed baked potatoes, and delicious desserts from Just Desserts Bakery. Using a careful recipe of food reclamation and resource management, St. Anthony’s serves an average of 2,600 healthy and filling meals 365 days a year at an average food cost of 33 cents per serving, and at no cost to the hungry Dining Room guests.

More than 75% of the 6,000 pounds of food that is prepared and served each day to San Francisco’s hungriest residents is reclaimed food, such as second-harvest fruits and vegetables or day old baked goods from bakeries, which would otherwise be thrown away. But St. Anthony’s commitment to sustainability goes even further. 70% of the waste matter (from preparation scraps to unfinished meals) from St. Anthony Dining Room is composted or recycled, which is then used as soil amendment for local farms. Next year, the St. Anthony Dining Room will be housed in San Francisco’s first LEED certified Green Direct Social Services building.

“Earth Day is really about bringing awareness to responsible utilization of our resources. At St. Anthony’s we feed a lot of people every day, but we do it with serious consideration of the resources at hand. Food gets transformed to nourishment, waste gets transformed to compost, compost gets transformed to food. And lives get transformed in the process.” Noted St. Anthony’s spokesperson Francis Aviani.

“As an award winning natural bakery, we create a lot of delicious desserts before we perfect a recipe,” Noted Just Desserts Executive Chef, Mani Niall. “As a socially-responsible business, it makes sense for those desserts to go to food banks or St. Anthony’s”.

Just Desserts is known throughout the U.S. for their award winning all-natural desserts. Greenleaf Produce provides peak-of-the-season produce to many of San Francisco’s finest restaurants and food service facilities. Both organizations contribute to Bay Area sustainable resource management by donating their overages to food banks and organizations like St. Anthony’s.