About Phillis Engelbert
Phillis Engelbert is the owner of three vegan establishments in Ann Arbor: Detroit Street Filling Station, The Lunch Room Bakery & Café, and North Star Lounge. Phillis also serves on the board of Dawn Farm addiction treatment organization.
Prior to becoming a vegan foodie and restaurateur, Phillis worked for 25 years as a community organizer, writer, and nonprofit administrator.
Phillis cut her activist teeth as a student organizer at the University of Michigan in the 1980s. After graduating with degrees in biology and natural resources, she coordinated a national anti-war march, worked as a union organizer, and wrote several volumes of reference books on science and social science topics. In the early 2000s, she was a founder and the first executive director of Michigan Peaceworks. She is interested in growth, change, empowerment and community building on individual and societal levels.
Resources
Detroit Street Filling Station
“Skip the Stuff” Laws Aim to Get Rid of Takeout Trash
Transcription
Rebekah Warren: This is 89.1 WEMU. Welcome to Issues of the Environment! I'm your host, Rebekah Warren. Today, we're talking about something that many of us encounter with regularity: takeout containers, plastic utensils, napkins, and food waste. Every year, Americans throw away an estimated 40 billion single-use plastic utensills. Most arrive with takeout and delivery orders whether we need them or not. At the same time, food waste sent to landfills generates methane, one of the most powerful greenhouse gasses contributing to climate change. Fortunately, local businesses right here in Washtenaw County are showing that food waste doesn't have to mean sacrificing convenience or profitability. Joining us today is Phillis Engelbert, owner of the Detroit Filling Station, the Lunch Room Bakery and Cafe and North Star Lounge in Ann Arbor. Phillis, welcome!
Phillis Engelbert: Thank you!
Rebekah Warren: One of the simplest changes that you have made also seems to be one of the most impactful. When customers order online, napkins and plastic utensils aren't automatically included anymore. They have to actively request them. What inspired you to rethink something as seemingly small but impactful as plastic forks and napkins?
Phillis Engelbert: Yeah. At Detroit Street Filling Station, we started doing this, I think, a couple of years ago. When people order online, they're given an option "yes or no." Do they want napkins and utensils? And also, the utensils we buy, we try to get corn-based, as opposed to plastic. But still, it's waste going into the landfill going into the environment. You know, I thought about it one day when I got Chinese carryout myself and realized that there were napkins and utensils in the bag that I was going to throw away. And then, I wondered how many of our patrons were doing the same thing. So, we've received overwhelmingly good response to our initiative and to giving people the choice. And we also have napkins and utensils by the door. So, if someone forgot to opt in, we can say to them, "If you need napkins or utensils, you can take them." But over 50% of carryout orders go out without any napkins or utensils.
Rebekah Warren: That's wonderful to hear! And I was very curious about what customer reaction was going to be to this, because we do know so many people stick with whatever option is presented as the default and might not even think about it. But it sounds like folks have really leaned into this. You're not getting complaints. You're actually getting supportive reactions from your customers.
Phillis Engelbert: Correct! I mean, people are grateful to be given the option to not have to throw things away. And then, to take it a step further, we added an option for "skip the bag." I'll bring my own bag. And a lot of people are opting for that too. Probably, 15 to 20% of our carryout orders now are just presented in a wire basket. And people bring their own bag, and they put everything in it. And then, to incentivize them to do that, we enter them in a monthly raffle to win a $100 gift card. So, people are also digging that option that they like having less things to throw away. We like giving them fewer things to turn away because it kind of doesn't make sense to use them one time and then discard it.
Rebekah Warren: As we're commemorating Plastic Free July, we had Lydia McMullen-Laird from Zerowaste.org on the show, and one of the things she talked about is how welcoming this community is for folks bringing, like you said, their bag, their own bag their reusable bag. To bring their food home or a coffee cup that's reusable to get their coffee. I heard that one of your additions to the program is that you allow people to bring their own carryout containers?
Phillis Engelbert: Right. So, that's for their leftovers. So, the vast majority of patrons ask for a carryout container for their leftovers. And we incentivize people to bring their own. Just stick a plastic container in your bag when you're going out, and then use it for your leftovers. And when people do that, they get a coupon for 10% off on any item on their next visit. So, some people seem to really have adopted that practice and regularly carry a container with them. And it's something that is a habit, and sometimes, it's hard to remember. But if we all try to just keep it in mind and just keep an empty container with us in our bag, in our backpack, then we have it when we go out to eat. But the other thing I'd like to encourage people to do is to dine in. I was reading recently that three out of every four restaurant meals last year was consumed off-site, off-premise. That means carryout containers which is kind of hurtful, and it kind of like hurts my soul a little bit to think that, as restauranteurs, we provide these spaces that we try to make inviting and turn into an experience, and it's also social. But the vast majority of our meals are being consumed off-site in carryout containers. So probably, the best thing you can do is to dine in and to bring your own container for whatever leftovers you have, and that way, you're using our dishes. We're going to wash them. They're going be used over and over and over again, and it reduces waste considerably.
Rebekah Warren: You're listening to Issues of the Environment on 89.1 WEMU. I'm Rebekah Warren, and today, we're talking with Phillis Engelbert, owner of the Detroit Street Filling Station, the Lunch Room Bakery and Cafe, and North Star Lounge about how local businesses are reducing waste through simple changes that benefit both the environment and their bottom line. Phillis, you've mentioned a couple of programs, this 10% off coupon, the $100 raffle. Sometimes, environmental solutions get a reputation for being expensive or difficult for small businesses to implement. It sounds like your experience might suggest the opposite.
Phillis Engelbert: Yes and no. These measures we're taking, encouraging people to use less stuff and to not take a bag or a utensil or a napkin if they don't need it, those obviously cost us nothing. In fact, they save us money. However, as a business, we also want to provide the quality carryout containers, the ones that are least environmentally destructive, and every notch you go up in terms of the environmental friendliness of carryout containers, the expense also goes up to the point where the very compostable paperboard containers with no added wax or plastic to keep moisture in, those are extremely expensive. And as a business, they're kind of out of reach. Plus, they tend not to work very well. Another way in which protecting the environment can be very expensive for a business is the question of compost, because in the City of Ann Arbor, there is no commercial composting program that the city offers. So, as a business, if we wanted to put some of our refuse into compost as opposed to trash, it would cost us five times as much to hire a private company to come twice a week and pick up our compost. So, it's kind of a yes and no thing about it. Is it expensive or does it save money?
Rebekah Warren: Plastic isn't the only waste stream that you focused on, and we know food waste doesn't always get the same attention as plastic pollution, but it has significant environmental consequences because of methane emissions from landfills. And you have highlighted that in Ann Arbor, an absent commercial compost. Many of that food waste would likely end up in a landfill. Do you think more people are beginning to understand that connection?
Phillis Engelbert: I think they are. I think it's just then, "What do you do about it?" And a lot of people do compost at home, and the city has carts and provides compost services for residences as opposed to businesses. And a number of people just do composting in their backyard and use it to enrich their own soil. So, I think it is a big issue, and I think people are aware of it. And a lot of people are doing what they can about it. And I also feel like we as a community should demand more that we can do more about it.
Rebekah Warren: Phillis, I wonder, do you feel that momentum building across the local business community as well? Like, for example, if another restaurant owner was listening today who wanted to reduce waste but isn't sure where to begin, is there a simple step or two that you would recommend they take tomorrow that could make a meaningful difference?
Phillis Engelbert: Interesting question. I can't speak to what the business community is thinking about these things. I do think the simple steps that we've taken could be widely adopted in terms of not automatically putting napkins and plasticware in every bag and offering customers the option to bring their own bag and their own carryout. I do think that everybody wants to do more and wants to do better. And at the same time, everybody is squeezed economically, so it would be important to have financial incentives for businesses to do the right thing environmentally, as opposed to disincentives, like around the composting issue that I mentioned, where, for a lot of us, is prohibitively extensive to have compost services to our businesses. So, I think it's a combination of things. I think there is the will, and there also needs to be the assistance and the government backing.
Rebekah Warren: Phillis, thank you so much for joining us today! My guest today was Phillis Engelbert, owner of the Detroit Street Filling Station, the Lunch Room Bakery and Cafe, and North Star Lounge. Today's conversation reminds us that environmental stewardship isn't always about dramatic technological breakthroughs. Sometimes, it's about rethinking everyday habits and designing systems that make the sustainable choice the easy choice. For more information on our conversation today, please visit our website at WEMU.org. Issues of the Environment is produced in partnership with the Office of the Washtenaw County Water Resources Commissioner, and you hear it here every Wednesday. I'm Rebekah Warren, and this is your community NPR Station, 89.1 WEMU, Ypsilanti.
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