The Table Bay targets green future

Cape Town’s best address, The Table Bay hotel, is on a zero-to-waste kitchen drive championed by new Executive Chef Lindsay Venn and General Manager Joanne Selby.

The five-star Sun International property has introduced a recycling-from-the-source project in its kitchens, with the help of the Waste Plan team at the V&A Waterfront.

Food waste, boxes, glass bottles, tins, paper towels, and plastic are separated into bins before being transferred to the Waterfront’s Waste Plan plant. “This reduces our carbon footprint 10-fold,” Venn said. “The changes are a mindset, and you must be patient and work hard to get others on board. Zero waste doesn’t mean you have to use everything immediately – you can freeze items or refrigerate for the following days’ meals.”

360-degree cycle

Chefs dispose of vegetable offcuts, which are then turned into compost and used by fruit and vegetable farmers, completing a “360-degree cycle of zero waste”.

Vegetable offcuts can be used to make stock for soup, adding “more natural flavour” and avoiding the expense of stock powders. The offcuts are also used to make pickles, with Venn citing healthy and trendy kimchi, watermelon skins for confit, orange peels to make marmalade, beetroot to make oil, beetroot salmon gravadlax or beetroot caviar, and onion offcuts for soubise sauce as potential products. The hotel uses sparkling water bottled on its premises in reusable glass bottles, and gets its rosemary, thyme, basil, and mint from an on-site garden.

Venn hopes that the hotel’s plastic waste can be made into re-usable crates for suppliers to deliver fruit and vegetables. “The idea would be to have suppliers deliver our produce in branded crates and collect empty ones. If all restaurants could do this, we would be doing our part to heal the planet.”

Healing the planet

Selby said the hotel was aiming for a cardboard- and plastic-free environment. “It will take a while, but we work on it every day and every little bit makes a difference. It would be great if Cape Town could be up there with other cities healing our planet. We all need to join forces and do our part.”

The Table Bay is also joining forces with the Waterfront management team and the Two Oceans Aquarium Foundation to start a chefs’ working group to share ideas on minimising waste in food and beverage outlets. “Chef Venn is an inspiration,” said Dr Judy Mann, Executive of Strategic Projects at the foundation. “He has supported our zero-waste research at the Waterfront and is helping us explore innovative solutions to waste challenges. We look forward to continuing this zero-waste journey with the Table Bay.”

The aim is to grow this into the mall and other establishments across the city to increase the green footprint and build a greener future for all.