Lifestyle

In 2013, London saw the establishment of one of the world’s first low-waste bars. White Lyan, in the city’s East End, plans its operations around sustainability: reducing wastage, eschewing disposables and focusing on responsibly sourced ingredients. Today, cocktail bartender Ryan Chetiyawardana aka Mr Lyan is considered a pioneer, a name that many in the industry look up to.

Now, Pune’s Rohan Rege, a 26-year-old bartender with Paasha, at the JW Marriot Hotel, is working to promote sustainability in his own way. He swears by online resources like Trash Tiki — which shares ideas on reducing waste — and is realistic about the broad habits of the ever-busy industry.

“In the hospitality industry especially, a lot of waste is generated every day,” he says, explaining how he worked with his team to convince Paasha to eliminate canned juices and syrups, cut down on transportation of ingredients from far away, and reduce plastic packaging.

“We have also stopped using tasting straws entirely,” says Rege, crediting the management of the bar — and of JW Marriott — for these baby steps. “Just one person standing behind the bar to promote sustainability won’t work. So, I brought my whole team into it. The change in mindset, and ideas, came from everybody working at the bar.”

Having said that, it is the bartenders who are at the forefront of the change. As Zachary Abbott, ambassador of Diageo (a British multinational alcoholic beverages company headquartered in London) says, “In any good bar, the management will respect the bartender. It saves the owner money in the long run.”

Abbott sees sustainable bartending as “the number one trend around the world right now. Parts of it are quite simple: keeping an eye on your taps and reducing water usage can help save 20% cost; switching to LED lighting can save 75%.” But reducing costs — and more importantly, your carbon footprint — goes beyond that: the very art of bartending plays a crucial part.