Sustainable Food Court Initiative Launch

Chris Moyer

Ei announces the launch of the Sustainable Food Court Initiative, an Ei Task Force under POWER - Perishable Organics Waste to Energy Recycling, with a strong national team of industry suppliers and trade associations.  Chris Moyer, National Restaurant Association Conserve Program Director, and Doug Kunnemann, NatureWorks Business Segment Director, serve as co-chairs.

The SFCI mission is:   To bring zero waste initiatives to food courts and develop industry sustainable best practices for Back-of-the-House and Front-of-the-House operations.

Food court challenges include landlord/tenant relationships, franchisor/franchisee relationships, third party products brought to the court, consumer interaction to name a few.  Several high-profile Atlanta food courts are interested in serving as pilot projects in partnership with SFCI.

Visit the SFCI page for additional task force details.  Contact Holly Elmore if you are interested in joining the SFCI Team.

THANK YOU c21!

Once again Sharon Goldmacher, communications 21 president, engaged her team to orchestrate an amazing ZWZ press conference.  In 2009 Sharon said YES to providing pro-bono public relation services for the press conference launching the ZWZ program.  The 2009 press conference resulted in phenomenal media including a CNN ZWZ story and front-page New York Times article.

The c21 Ladies Alex, Jenna & Sharon

On February 23, Sharon along with Alex Ritchey and Jenna Johnson did an amazing job coordinating the ZWZ Two-Year Anniversary press conference and supporting press release.  With excellent immediate national media response, we anticipate an encore performance over the next months with local, regional and national press.


Visit the ZWZ Garners National Support blog post for detail on the press conference, the Ei|ZWZ Press Release page for the February 23 press release and the National Media page for ZWZ in the news.

THANK YOU COMMUNICATIONS 21!!!

ZWZ Garners National Support

Wow ~ what an amazing experience to witness the honor and respect for the ZWZ program at the ZWZ Two-Year Anniversary press conference on February 23 at the World of Coca-Cola!  A powerful crowd attended to support the program and stayed for an impromptu reception following the program.

Laura Turner Seydel

Each presenter began their talk with an emphasis on the success and importance of the ZWZ.  After a warm welcome by Holly Elmore, Ei founder & CEO, ZWZ Chair Laura Turner Seydel gave an overview of the of the past two years that laid the foundation for the exciting announcements by the National Restaurant Association (NRA) and Waste Management (WM).  

Along with his ZWZ accolades, George McKerrow, Ted’s Montana Grill co-founder & CEO, announced the Turner Building is the first Atlanta multi-use building to implement an organics collection program in residential, office and retail space. 

Chris Moyer, Scott DeFife
& George McKerrow

Scott DeFife, NRA Executive Vice President for Policy and Government Affairs, announced the national collaboration with Ei|ZWZ and NRA Conserve with the following statement, “Atlanta’s Zero Waste Zone program has been incredibly successful, and we are now looking to expand that success to communities nationwide.  Sustainability is imperative to our industry, other business communities and the general public. Working with Elemental Impact, we are bringing industry stakeholders together to enable our members to establish - and succeed in reaching - waste diversion and resource recovery goals.”

The WM Team

With the nation's largest private sector industry's trade association mobilized to engage foodservice operators in zero waste practices, the collection and destination infrastructure must be created for success.  WM, the nation's largest waste and recycling hauling company, announced their support to the Metro Atlanta market with increased options for beneficially converting organics.  Randall Essick, WM Director, Business Development & Government Affairs for the South Atlantic Area, noted ZWZ provided the framework for WM to make the organics solution statement.

Laura, Patrick Cuccaro, Karen Bremer
and Niko Karatassos

Although the WM statement related directly to the metro Atlanta market, an overall environmental commitment comes from the top as stated by David Steiner, WM CEO, "At Waste Management, our charge is clear.  We must continue to find new and better ways to present our customers with valued environmental solutions.  We must push the envelope to extract more value from the materials we manage, and invest in technologies for processing and conversion.  And as we do each these things, we must remember our challenge to minimize our our footprint and that of our customers."

ZWZ Champions Patrick Cuccaro &
Steve Simon chat

These are thrilling times to realize a phenomenal foundation is built and national support is committed for taking the ZWZ into new dimensions of impact.  Stay tuned for tales from the journey as we catapult into the national scene, while giving stronger depth to the Atlanta template.


Visit the Press Release  page for the ZWZ and NRA press releases and the National Media page for the immediate press response to the releases.

Chris Moyer joins ZWZ Leadership

Chris & Holly

With the collaboration of the National Restaurant Association, Elemental Impact and ZWZ official, Chris Moyer, NRA Conserve Program Director, joins the ZWZ Leadership Team as Foodservice Industry Advisor.  Along with amazing enthusiasm, Chris brings 14 years of foodservice and hospitality industry experience to ZWZ.  Check out his impressive bio on the NRA Speaker Bureau.

The ZWZ program is staged to catapult to new dimensions with Chris in a leadership role.  Supported by the NRA's vast resources, Chris plans to work with the ZWZ Team on developing more depth to the program along with creating a national expansion template. 


One to jump in with both feet, usually adorned in bright green sneakers, Chris is co-chair of the Sustainable Food Court Initiative, an Elemental Impact Task Force.  


Welcome Chris!

OFFICIAL: City of Atlanta Lends ZWZ Support

Last month ZWZ announced the City of Atlanta supports the program by joining as a participant in the blog post,City of Atlanta Commits to ZWZ .  Today the City gave its official stamp of support with their press release:  CITY OF ATLANTA LENDS SUPPORT TO ZERO WASTE ZONE.

How wonderful for Mandy Mahoney, Director of Sustainability for the City of Atlanta.to state, "Supporting Zero Waste Zones benefits the environment, local businesses and will ensure long-term cost savings for city government and the community through promoting best practices that minimize waste and recover valuable materials for reuse,” 

Mayor Kasim Reed gives a broad view with his support: "“The city’s support of Zero Waste Zones illustrates our commitment to moving Atlanta toward becoming a top 10 city for sustainability. One critical step in this process is to develop a viable zero-waste plan that will create green jobs and reduce the green house gas emissions of discarded materials. ZWZ complements our zero-waste plan and vision and is the economically and ecologically right thing to do for the city.”

Zero Waste Zones are honored to contribute to the City of Atlanta achieving its status of a top 10 city for sustainability.  Stay tuned as the ZWZ Team shares the tales from the phenomenal journey of blazing the trails of personal and environmental stewardship.

ZWZ Enters the Terrific Twos!

ZWZ Chair Laura Turner Seydel wrote a wonderful article, Zero Waste Zones Anniversary,  in Atlanta INTown magazine's February issue.  It is the first article recognizing the ZWZ entrance into the Terrific Twos!  


Note the site does not publish individual on-line articles, so  go to page 23 for the article.


Thank you Laura for the fantastic article.