McGillin’s Olde Ale House is not only the oldest continuously operating tavern in Philadelphia, but also the only zero waste bar in the city and the “greenest” Irish bar in the country. Here’s a list of some of the historic bar’s green initiatives:
McGillin’s Green Initiatives
- Recycles
- Composts
- Replaced non-biodegradable restaurant trash (such as straws, liners) with compostable & biodegradable options
- Uses more local beer – reducing shipping costs & fewer emissions
- Uses more kegs & fewer bottles – one more reason to drink more draft beer
- Each keg saves 7 cases of disposable packaging (cardboard, glass, aluminum)
- Switched from traditional light bulbs to energy efficient LED bulbs
- Reduce carbon footprint
- Lasts 50% longer
- Uses 90% less energy
- Produces less heat – leading to less use of A/C in summer months (helping reduce peak electricity load)
- Reduced carbon footprint by:
- Switching to single stream trash collection
- Recycling cardboard, glass, aluminum, oil, plastic
- Grinding waste
- Continuously upgrade mechanical systems to be more energy efficient
- Replaced water cooled compressors (previously wasted more than 100,000 galloons of water a year and now is on a closed loop chiller system that uses no water and reducing energy needs)