2013 Agriculture and Food – From Paddock to Plate Sustainably Award
Maria Bortolotto a director at Cecconi’s Flinders Lane, passionate and committed to help the environment through good practises of recycling of food waste etc. It was decided that 600KG of food waste be recycled at the restaurant and then transported to the farm.
The installation of a food composter at the Ceccon’s Restaurant Melbourne site in 2013 was pioneering. Closed Loop, Cecconi’s and The Cabin Lorne program was started and quickly gained interest it was in 2013 that Cecconi’s and Maria Bortolotto won the prestigious Banksia award.
Cecconi's Case Study_Closed Loop Organics Unit
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•May 8, 2013
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2013 Agriculture and Food – From Paddock to Plate Sustainably Award
Cecconi’s Cantina, VIC
Cecconi’s is a family run restaurant business with sustainability at the heart of everything they do. The latest sustainable initiative they have introduced is onsite food waste composting. Using state of the art technology, restaurant food waste is converted into a resource; producing compost at 20% of original waste volume within 24 hours. It has resulted in significantly reducing Cecconi’s waste volumes and associated greenhouse gas emissions and creates a valuable end use product (compost) which can be used to nourish the soil to grow more food. Maria Bortolotto (Cecconi’s owner) uses the compost at her farm near Lorne to nurture the soil and grow vegetables to use within the restaurant. The significance of what Cecconi’s is doing is immense. It demonstrates a viable solution for the restaurant and food industry with tangible operational, commercial and environmental benefits. As an industry leader and founding partner of new environmental initiative City Harvest, Cecconi’s is committed to encouraging others to improve their environmental performance. Cecconi’s is passionate about sustainability and about encouraging others to turn waste into a resource and make a real difference to Australiaís bright future. Paddock to Plate to Paddock is becoming a true reality, accessible to all.
Comments from Judges
The judges have found the concepts and operations adopted are practical, efficient, economical and sustainable. The company has demonstrated leadership and innovation that has the potential to be adopted throughout the local service industries. It is truly a transformational approach to restaurant operation and reinforces the closed loop approach.