At the Cafe Rio in Grand Junction, the women’s restroom has a sign urging patrons to try their new, super-duper hand blow-drier. The sign tries to appeal to people’s sense of environmental responsibility by saying, “Let’s save our world [by using] one less paper towel at a time.”
But at the same time, Cafe Rio serves every last bit of food in disposable containers. Not one bit of it is recycled. The restaurant generates a truly astounding amount of trash day in and day out, which is greatly disturbing. Given this, their restroom sign is hypocritical to an extreme.
I’m not the only one who feels Cafe Rio’s use of disposables is excessive and unreasonable. A Yelp review of the Cafe Rio in Fort Collins expressed the same sentiment:
While I enjoy the $1.99 Taco Tuesday special and generally like the food and unique drinks at Cafe Rio I am disgusted with their disposable packaging. Large aluminum foil dishes and styrofoam cups overflow from trash cans at this location nearly every time I visit. Why not recycle that aluminum or use baskets like Chipotle? Yes… I realize that reusable supplies require some water to clean, perhaps paper plates could be a suitable alternative? Why not get compostable supplies like Whole Foods instead of using styrofoam?
The current policies are short sighted and disgusting; this stuff ends up in our landfills and is not worth the quick enjoyment of a half hour lunch.
If Cafe Rio was truly committed to the environment and not just paying it lip service, at a minimum the restaurant would be using reusable dishes, implements and glassware for their customers eating in house, and save the disposables for take-out only. Even better, they would use biodegradable disposables for their take-out food.
But they don’t do any of that. Instead, Cafe Rio appeals to their patrons to respect the environment while they trash it like crazy.
Cafe Rio, please start practicing what you preach. You are in fact a complete environmental nightmare.
This post, including the comments, shows just how incredibly negative our society has become. The article could have read, ” Cafe Rio produces a lot of garbage, but at least they are trying to reduce it by starting in the rest rooms with blow dryers.” . It’s not just the glass is half empty, but it’s half empty, and it’s your damn fault, and what’s in the glass was horrible to begin with ! Please stop whining America. No one needs to make America great again, we need to make ourselves Great Americans again.
Marc and Peggy,
Consumers can no longer afford to take the things corporations do and say at face value. In aggregate, they put billions of dollars into making us think a certain way about what they do. People’s health, safety and environment are at literally stake. We as a society need to become not just media literate, but also learn the strategies and tactics corporations use to fool us, spin their images and drive our thinking about their products and services. Cafe Rio is a prime example of this. While they appeal to customers to take an active part in preserving the environment, they are openly trashing the environment right under our noses, and most people think that’s just fine. To make things even crazier, they’ve got folks like you defending them!
I recommend the book: “Toxic Sludge is Good for You: Lies, Damn Lies and the Public Relations Industry” by Rampton and Stauber (my former bosses). Here’s Amazon’s short description and URL:
Common Courage’s number one seller blows the lid off of today’s multi-billion-dollar propaganda-for-hire PR industry, revealing how public relations wizards concoct and spin the news, organize phony “grassroots” front groups, spy on citizens and conspire with lobbyists and politicians.
http://www.amazon.com/Toxic-Sludge-Good-For-You/dp/1567510604
And just as an aside, and having nothing to do with the use of paper products, did I mention their food is fantastic, as in, eat your heart out Chipolte.
My personal favorite is the Quesadilla, a hand made flour tortilla, with a blend of Mexican cheeses and your choice of meat, then grilled to perfection, served with shredded Romain Lettuce, Pico de Gallo, sour cream and hand scooped Guacamole. And did I mention all their employees are really friendly. They speak English and they don’t serve e-coli, all of which are a big plus over Chipolte. And they’re conveniently located.s
Lets take the cameras into each of your homes, yards,and cars and see further hypocrisy. We the sheeple love to gather into groups, stand around pointing, judging and summing up a truth. Very proud of the observations made of this restaurant.
Also, if they are truly committed to the health of our environment, have they forgotten that their dryers use power? Unless it is all sun power, I’m sure it affects the environment.