Sea Rocket Bistro takes environmental issues seriously and has tried to limit waste- food waste, water waste, packaging waste- as much as possible. Here are some of the specific things we do to help the environment, as well as human health.

We serve filtered tap water only. Tap water is perfectly safe for drinking, and sometimes safer than bottled water. Water bottles are created with toxic chemicals and then disposed of into the ground, where they take hundreds of years to breakdown and reintegrate with the earth. Our tap water is filtered and served chilled in pitchers so that guests can help themselves to as much water as they would like while cutting down on water waste from filling glasses that some people never touch. Here is a great article about the multitude of unhealthy effects of bottled water.

We recycle! Recon Recycling picks up our cardboard, plastics, paper, and glass three times each week.

We also compost our biodegradable food waste which is picked up by the folks at Berney Elementary School down the road in South Park for use in their school garden.

Our portions, like our prices, are modest in the hopes that guests will finish their meals instead of needing containers to take leftovers home in. This cuts down on food waste by minimizing the amount of food left by guests on the plate, as well as reducing to-go container packaging waste.

We encourage the use of tupperware. For those of you who often take food home, please bring a container or doggie bag with you. We do have sugar cane based biodegradable to-go containers available if needed, but you can help eradicate this issue entirely by bringing your own. Even biodegradable, recycled or recyclable boxes take energy and natural resources to manufacture and distribute!

We reused as much of the existing infrastructure, furnishings and lighting as possible in order to reduce the amount of raw materials and processing energy that would otherwise go into manufacturing new products.

In addition to our ingredients and other necessary items and services needed to run a restaurant, we hired our staff as close to home as possible in order to cut down on the amount of gas pollution required for commuting, in addition to fostering a heightened sense of community. Since most of the Sea Rocket staff live nearby in North Park, South Park, and Normal Heights, our total combined employee miles driven per day is under 20!

We used no-VOC (Volatile Organic Compounds) paints in our remodeling for better indoor air quality and worker health.

We do not have a deep fryer and therefore have extremely little grease waste to dispose of.

Here are even more things we do to ensure an eco-friendly operation:

* Use biodegradable trash bags that are made out of corn
* Use biodegradable disposables when working an off site event
* Use green cleaning products including Dr. Bronner's soap (from Escondido, so it's local), vinegar as a cleaner, and baking soda as a scrubber
* Use energy efficient fans to reduce use of air conditioner
* Purchase local and organic food to reduce CO2 and other environmental impacts
* Support community organizations such as Food Not Lawns that encourage people to plant food gardens instead of lawns in their yards
* Personally avoid Styrofoam as much as possible