Oakville Place introduces diners to earth friendly Food Court experience

OAKVILLE ON – There is a new eco-friendly initiative at Oakville Place shopping centre that enhances the experience of eating in a Food Court and helps the environment. Beginning this month, customers now have the option to select their own restaurant quality plate and have their meal served without generating the waste from a disposable plate.

"At Oakville Place, we want to treat our customers to a more sophisticated shopping experience, and the first step in the Food Court is to enjoy a meal on real dishes. Once customers are finished their meal, we will remove their plates and tray – and we do the dishes!" says Jenny Jovanovic, Marketing Coordinator for Oakville Place.

The plate program was developed as a service to customers, but also as an earth friendly initiative. The new energy efficient dishwasher, the reduction in water use (only 4 liters of water per wash), and the huge impact it will have on the levels of garbage generated in the Food Court are all eco-driven.  Oakville Place plans to expand this program to include other restaurant quality components in the future.

"It is a simple idea, but one that can make a big difference," Jenny says "and our goal is to build on our current programs. As a shopping centre, Oakville Place is committed to finding new ways to reduce energy and waste."

Environmental responsibility is a continuing priority for Oakville Place.  The shopping centre purchases energy from Bullfrog Power, uses an electric car for exterior security patrols, switched to ‘pesticide-free’ landscaping and has a full service organic and recycling program.  This new program is the start to reducing Food Court waste by 50% within the next year.

Based on calculations that the average school child with a disposable lunch generates 30 kilograms or 67 pounds of waste annually, and that this works out to 737 kilograms or 1,625 pounds of waste per year for every 25 students^**, the waste reduction is expected to be substantial.

Oakville Place Shopping Centre is located at the Trafalgar Road exit on the Q.E.W., 25 minutes west of downtown Toronto and convenient to the Oakville GO station. For further information call Oakville Place at (905) 842-2140 or go to www.oakvilleplace.com.

Through implementing a landmark, earth friendly strategy, the Food Court at Oakville Place shopping centre is dishing up a lot less waste! As of May 1 diners have the option of selecting their own restaurant quality, washable plate, reducing the amount of waste generated by disposable plates. Don’t worry! It doesn’t mean having to wash your own dishes!