Lindsay Palesch picked a near-perfect spot to host her first food vendor trade show in Victoria with a zero-waste objective.

The Vancouver-based special events co-ordinator for international distributor Gordon Food Service booked the Laurel Point Inn B次元官网网址� which bills itself as B.C.B次元官网网址檚 first carbon-neutral hotel B次元官网网址� to host the March 7 show spotlighting companies whose products are sold through GFS.

Chefs and other buyers from the restaurant and food service industry in Greater Victoria sampled food at about 40 vendor booths, served up on recyclable plates and in some cases, skewered on compostible utensils.

B次元官网网址淚t was slow to start, I think, because it was a change,B次元官网网址� said Palesch, a self-described avid household recycler who took the zero-waste trade show idea to her company four years ago.

B次元官网网址淚tB次元官网网址檚 evolved over time and weB次元官网网址檝e had buy-in from the vendors.B次元官网网址�

To get a sense of how much waste is being diverted, a large show Palesch and company put on the day before in Vancouver saw about 254 kilograms of compostible or recyclable waste produced and just seven kg of non-recyclable materials.

B次元官网网址淚t used to be that everything went into the garbage,B次元官网网址� she says of the days before the zero-waste mantra. B次元官网网址淚tB次元官网网址檚 made a huge difference.B次元官网网址�

The move toward sustainability for this relatively small element of the food industry is of great interest to Doug Schell, general manager of Ellice Recycle Ltd.

He was happy to get on board with Gordon, one of the largest food service distributors in B.C., and the Laurel Point Inn to ensure all materials that could be recycled or composted from the trade show were directed to the appropriate waste streams.

Undertaking such an initiative was beyond the hotelB次元官网网址檚 scope, Schell said, so Ellice was brought in to augment their internal operations.

B次元官网网址淚tB次元官网网址檚 got to come from the top down and they were firm on their commitment,B次元官网网址� he said of the hotel management.

One of SchellB次元官网网址檚 roles with Ellice is to boost recycling by businesses.

He aims to encourage more operators, including those in the restaurant and food industries, to look at ways of reducing their waste.

As more materials become banned from the Hartland landfill, he said, businesses will need to become more aware of how and where they can dispose of their waste.

A complete list of items accepted for disposal at the Ellice yard on David Street in the Rock Bay neighbourhood is at ellicerecycle.com under B次元官网网址業s it Recyclable?B次元官网网址�

editor@vicnews.com