Following water crisis, restaurants increase affinity for recycling

With last weekend’s water crisis blazing headlines across the country, the entire nation now knows two things about Toledo: Watch out for sinkholes and don’t drink the water. But while the mass media was busy rubbernecking, many Toledoans carried on with their lives and the mountains of empty water bottles and paper plates raised awareness of the importance of recycling.

Mo Dari, owner of the Oasis Restaurant, says business was brisk last weekend because his was among the limited number of restaurants that stayed open. The Oasis used paper and plastic dishes and utensils like it does when serving meals at the fairgrounds, he said. "The only real change was opening plastic water bottles rather than turning on the tap," said Dari.

The Oasis was not the only area restaurant to experience an upsurge in business when contaminated tap water caused many eateries to close. Among the ones that stayed open were the Village Idiot, Shawn’s Irish Tavern, Fat Fish Blue, Balance Asian Grille, Nick and Jimmy’s, Claddagh, and the Blarney. “We did an extremely limited menu, and served food on paper plates. For drinks, we did bottled water and canned soda,” said Mark Davis, shift supervisor at Claddagh. Many other restaurants that opened followed a similar format. 

With all of the extra plastic bottles, cups, and paper plates in play at restaurants over the weekend, did anyone recycle? “A few of our employees were set on recycling, so we put the used materials in bags and they took them to a recycling center,” said Davis.  

Back at the Oasis, Dari reported that they “had bags set up around the store for the weekend to collect water bottles and other plastics.” Like many local restaurants, the Oasis regularly recycles cardboard. “Normally the amount of plastic that we use is very little, and we almost never use glass,” Dari said. “We use a lot of paper and cardboard because we can recycle that material on a regular basis.”  

Some restaurants, however, didn’t take the extra step to recycle the extra plastic ware.

“I opened on Saturday and sold whiskey and beer. We used plastic cups left over from St. Paddy’s Day,” says Mike Shroyer, owner of Shawn’s Irish Tavern. While they did not go out of their way to recycle the used plastic, Shroyer has made attempts to bring glass recycling dumpsters to his and other locations. 

“I recently spoke with Owens-Illinois about this issue,” he said.  “On a slow night, we’ll throw over 100 glass bottles into the dumpster, as well as many liquor bottles. There is nobody that offers glass recycling for restaurants in this area, and it would certainly be a big help for us”, says Shroyer.  

With last weekend’s water crisis blazing headlines across the country, the entire nation now knows two things about Toledo: Watch out for sinkholes and don’t drink the water. But while the mass media was busy rubbernecking, many Toledoans carried on with their lives and the mountains of empty water bottles and paper plates raised awareness of the importance of recycling.

Mo Dari, owner of the Oasis Restaurant, says business was brisk last weekend because his was among the limited number of restaurants that stayed open. The Oasis used paper and plastic dishes and utensils like it does when serving meals at the fairgrounds, he said. "The only real change was opening plastic water bottles rather than turning on the tap," said Dari.

The Oasis was not the only area restaurant to experience an upsurge in business when contaminated tap water caused many eateries to close. Among the ones that stayed open were the Village Idiot, Shawn’s Irish Tavern, Fat Fish Blue, Balance Asian Grille, Nick and Jimmy’s, Claddagh, and the Blarney. “We did an extremely limited menu, and served food on paper plates. For drinks, we did bottled water and canned soda,” said Mark Davis, shift supervisor at Claddagh. Many other restaurants that opened followed a similar format. 

With all of the extra plastic bottles, cups, and paper plates in play at restaurants over the weekend, did anyone recycle? “A few of our employees were set on recycling, so we put the used materials in bags and they took them to a recycling center,” said Davis.  

Back at the Oasis, Dari reported that they “had bags set up around the store for the weekend to collect water bottles and other plastics.” Like many local restaurants, the Oasis regularly recycles cardboard. “Normally the amount of plastic that we use is very little, and we almost never use glass,” Dari said. “We use a lot of paper and cardboard because we can recycle that material on a regular basis.”  

Some restaurants, however, didn’t take the extra step to recycle the extra plastic ware.

“I opened on Saturday and sold whiskey and beer. We used plastic cups left over from St. Paddy’s Day,” says Mike Shroyer, owner of Shawn’s Irish Tavern. While they did not go out of their way to recycle the used plastic, Shroyer has made attempts to bring glass recycling dumpsters to his and other locations. 

“I recently spoke with Owens-Illinois about this issue,” he said.  “On a slow night, we’ll throw over 100 glass bottles into the dumpster, as well as many liquor bottles. There is nobody that offers glass recycling for restaurants in this area, and it would certainly be a big help for us”, says Shroyer.