Sustainable Solutions

Earlier today, I was chatting with Bob Weeks, the founder and publisher of Food Product Design, and he mentioned an interesting article in today's Trib. After retrieving the paper from my driveway (the "paper boy"--more like some wide-eyed caffeine-charged maniac careening down my suburban street at 60 mph at 5 A.M.--has an certain affinity for sliding it perfectly under the car for some reason...), I found the article in question (actually, today's copy of the Chicago Tribune had quite a few good food stories, including one on Sonic's expanding retro roller skate drive-in concept, see http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-0609110144sep11,1,6162374.story?coll=chi-business-hed, and a bit centered on trendy designer beef--think cuts from David Burke, Ralph Lauren and Bill Kurtis; see http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-0609110131sep11,1,4523970.story?coll=chi-business-hed).

Now I'm certainly a fan of both low- and highbrow beef, but--considering the green sheen that I sometimes unwittingly emit over the course of my daily endeavors--my colleague was steering me in the direction of the following story on a sustainable option recently developed for used frying oil in foodservice operations:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-0609110149sep11,1,1719760.story?coll=chi-newslocal-hed

This is the kind of forward-minded thinking that can help spin a potentially negative byproduct 180 degrees--perhaps making a profit--and simultaneously toss some beneficial marketing fodder to the masses (which always helps when you're a target to some...). With enough neuron bashing, over time I bet we can eliminate most of the bogeys that haunt our work and natural environments--and bottom lines.