Promoter organisation: Silo’s chef-and owner DouglasMacMaster
Country: London/ Great Britain
What: Silo’s menu is an expression of natural farming and closed loop cooking, demonstrating quality within sustainability with ZERO WASTE PHILOSOPHY.
How: Silo is a restaurant without a bin. This statement has become their guiding principle, forcing them to work backwards in eliminating waste from their food system. Everything on the menu is created from ingredients in their whole form, cutting out over-processing and food miles, whilst preserving the integrity of the ingredients we treasure.
Their own flourmill that turns ancient varieties of wheat into flour the analogue way, opposing industrial bread making processes. They churn their own butter, roll their own oats and support a root to leaf ideology, meaning that if an animal dies or a vegetable is harvested for food they will maximise its entire potential, respectfully.
Zero waste doesn’t exist without a network of suppliers who are just as committed to the cause as the restaurant is. To achieve zero waste, all products delivered to the restaurant come in reusable, returnable vessels such as crates, pails and urns. This idea isn’t revolutionary, it’s how businesses used to operate. This is what we mean by a pre-industrial food system.
The minimal waste that remains between produce coming in and dishes going out is natural and therefore compostable…closing the loop. Working without waste is nothing new – it is a mirror of natural processes. There is no bin in the jungle, after all. Beyond the vessels, the suppliers represent the best processes in terms of regenerative farming and producing with the utmost respect for biodiversity and regenerative agriculture.
The fermentatrium sits in the bowels of the restaurant. It is a cupboard full of emerging dreams and an anvil cell for diamonds of flavour. Vegetable trim, cheese rinds and excess dairy all hold leading roles in this showcase of what can be created when waste is reconsidered as a resource. The input is ‘waste’, salt and time. The output is complex, layered flavour in the form of garums – both the seasoning and the foundation to many of their most successful dishes.
The dining room furniture and fittings are created from a desire to reuse, choosing up-cycling before recycling. Materials that would have otherwise been wasted have been crafted with innovation to create functional, beautiful designs. The plates are formed from plastic bags, and tables from reconstituted food packaging.
Light shades are mycelium grown on spent brewer’s grains and crockery is forged from crushed wine bottles. The floor and ceiling form the regenerative bread of this upcycled sandwich – cork and sheeps wool respectively.
Even with the best of intentions and tightly closed loop systems, no restaurant can be 100% zero waste. The 0.1% of our output that can’t be fermented, upcycled, composted or recycled is a stream we have dubbed ‘alien waste’. We keep 100% of our alien waste. 18 months worth of it is condensed 4×4 inch block of blue.
When: Introduced first in Australia in 2011, 2019 in London
Why it is relevant:
SUSTAINABILITY
1.1 Reduce global food waste at the retail and consumer levels and reduce food losses along production and supply chains, including post-harvest losses
1.2 Substantially reduce waste generation through prevention, reduction, recycling and reuse
1.4 Ensure that people everywhere have the relevant information and awareness for sustainable development and lifestyles in harmony with nature
1.7 Ensure sustainable food production systems and implement resilient agricultural practices that increase productivity and production, that help maintain ecosystems, that strengthen capacity for adaptation to climate change, extreme weather, drought, flooding and other disasters and that progressively improve land and soil quality
EFFICIENCY
2.1. The social and financial objectives were reached.
2.2. The design and implementation of the practice answers to real problems of the target group or specific challenges that the country is facing (nationally, regionally, locally).
2.3. The practice achieved the mobilization of appropriate stakeholders which have a statutory responsibility for specific issues.
2.4. The means to achieve the social and financial objectives were appropriate and were adapted to the specific requirements of the practice.
TRANSFERABILITY
3.1. The practice maybe repeated in the same or other geographical and / or sector level using the same methods.
3.2. The practice may be a model for similar actions in other geographical and / or organizational environment.
INNOVATION
4.1. New methods of design and implementation procedures were introduced which have not been applied before in the country/region.
4.2. The practice incorporated / promoted ICT use or solutions that reduce environmental impact (less CO2 emissions)
4.3. The practice has promoted new forms of partnership, cooperation and networking among stakeholders.
Target Groups: Customers, Suppliers, other restaurants
RESULTS OF THE GOOD PRACTISE
IMPACT
Results, CHANGES
- less waste
- responsible consumption – foster free choice and moral responsibility
- protecting the environment
- saving resources and money
- less CO2 emissions
- sustainable lifestyles
WEBSITE, PROMOTIONAL MATERIALS
https://www.silolondon.com/pages/about