Green Restaurants

Green Certification logo

Simply stated, pollution prevention (P2) is putting into practice the common sense idea that the best way to manage waste is to avoid generating it in the first place. The best way to mitigate pollution is to eliminate it at the source. Our Green Hospitality Program is a means by which you can receive technical assistance on ways to reduce pollution. This will save you money and will provide with you with an environmentally friendly image you can convey to your customers.

The Green Hospitality program began in 2008 with a strong relationship between DEM and the Rhode Island Hospitality Association. The program has recently been updated in 2019 to include new initiatives with a stronger focus on the reduction of single use plastics in the restaurant industry. Becoming a green business can have positive impacts on your bottom line. Even seemingly simple changes, such as using more environmentally friendly cleaning supplies or more energy efficient lighting and insulation, can have a long term positive impact on your place of business with benefits such as reductions in operating cost, improvements in workplace safety and health conditions, public image, and permitting costs.

The RIDEM Office of Customer and Technical Assistance (OCTA) has worked with various businesses in the hospitality sector over the years to help them cut costs, improve practices and function, and leave progressively fewer environmental impacts in the process.

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