As delegates prepare to descend on Glasgow for the upcoming UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26), we’ve been invited to take part in the Plate Up for Glasgow campaign.

Zero Waste Scotland have published a report into food waste and the facts are staggering. While many hospitality businesses have made the switch away from single-use plastics, food waste is a larger contributor to climate change than plastics.

Fronted by Glasgow Chamber of Commerce through its Circular Glasgow initiative, Plate up for Glasgow’s vision is to create a Glasgow movement to inspire and invite everyone to act against food waste. The ambition is to challenge traditional and often wasteful dining out or take away business models with the aim of sending as little food waste as possible to landfill.

We’re pleased to announce that we’ll be running a set menu designed to utilise food that would otherwise go to waste at our Brasserie. We’ll also be releasing a sour beer made with parts of fruit and vegetables that normally go unused, surplus bread, and this year’s small crop of home-grown hops.

We believe that with so many people struggling to afford food, and reliance on food banks rising sharply during the pandemic, it’s not right for us - or any business - to ignore the growing issue of throwing food away.

From the 12th of October to the 12th of November 2021, we’re trialling a new zero-waste set menu. We’ll be working with our suppliers to take their surplus food and give it a new lease of life.

If you come to eat with us any time and find your eyes were bigger than your stomach, we’d encourage you to ask for a compostable takeaway box for your leftovers. There’s absolutely no shame in asking for a doggy bag!

Spare Parts – a new sour brewed with surplus food (including fruit and veg offcuts) and hops grown on site – will be kegged and shared with other restaurants taking part in the campaign. We’ll give them the beer for free and ask that they donate the profits to The Trussell Trust – where funds will be used to supply food banks and fight for fair legislation that makes these food banks less necessary in our communities.

We want to be really clear about our aims in being part of this campaign. We know that one month of less waste and a brew won’t save the planet, which is why we’re always trying to do better.

• We send our spent grain to farmers to feed their livestock and we’ve even been trialling it as compost for mushrooms.
• All of our food waste currently goes to a facility for anaerobic digestion and we’re in the process of calculating and offsetting our carbon emissions.
• Our kitchen staff are always actively trying to use every part of every food item, making stocks and sauces out of lesser-used ingredients like peels, skins, and stems.

All of this to say, we don’t intend to hang our hat solely on what we’re doing as part of this campaign. We want to continue to make lasting changes, while also getting involved with campaigns that raise awareness.

If you have any feedback about what we’re doing and want to make your voice heard, we’re always happy to listen – drop us a line to hello@drygate.com. Sustainability is worth being passionate about.

We hope you can join us during the campaign to test out some of our new drinks and dishes,

Team Drygate x