Environmentally Sustainability

Bytown Catering operates in a manner that supports ecological, social and environmental ethics. Every year we undertake one or more initiatives to help ensure the sustainability of our operations and reduce the environmental impacts of our operations. Sometimes the changes are small, while others have been truly transformative.

Bytown Catering’s initiatives have positively impacted all aspects of our business including reductions in waste, energy use and water use. We were one of the first major food service operations in Ottawa to switch from water cooled to air cooled refrigeration in our kitchens and also one of the first operations to switch from Styrofoam based take-out containers to fully biodegradable and compostable containers.

Bytown Catering ORCA Sustainability

One of our focal areas over the years has been improving how we handle the disposal of food waste. Almost from the start of our operations, before composting became common, we worked with local farmers to divert some of our food waste where it could be used in their operations. Then, several years ago we started separating out all food and related waste for composting. While a decent solution, industrial composting still has its drawbacks, not the least of which are the environmental impacts from the transportation of compostable materials, the process itself and the limited uses for such compost.

Not being satisfied, we continued to look for better options. We are extremely proud that in 2019 we invested in an entirely new approach to the issue of food waste by installing an ORCA food waste recycling system. ORCA technology mimics a natural digestion process by creating the perfect thermophilic biological environment for microorganisms to digest food waste into a liquid. Essentially, ORCA takes the trucks out of the system while significantly reducing the carbon dioxide and methane generated by traditional landfill or even composting methods. For more details see Feed The Orca

For more details about our environmental sustainability initiatives, please don’t hesitate to contact us sustainability@bytowncatering.com .