Merriman’s Is Hawai'i's First Carbon Neutral Restaurant

"When Peter Merriman opened his eponymous restaurant on Hawai'i’s Big Island in 1988, the chef was an early champion for working with local farmers and fishermen. Thirty-five years later, and with the help of solar panels, lighter wine bottles, and a new seaweed diet for goats, Merriman’s Waimea just became the state’s first carbon neutral restaurant. The first step to doing their part was understanding the restaurant’s existing environmental impact. Merriman and his team partnered with GreenPlaces, an organization that helps restaurants, hotels, and other businesses become more sustainable. Some of the initiatives it took to get Merriman’s Waimea to carbon neutrality have been in place for years, including installing solar panels on their buildings and sourcing ingredients responsibly. The restaurant group works with local farmers and vendors, and nowadays 90% of the ingredients they use either come from Hawai'i or are sustainably caught. At the Big Island location, an on-site garden grows fruits and herbs for the menu, too. The most surprising way the restaurant group is cutting carbon emissions, though, is goat-related. Merriman’s, working with two local orgs, will roll out “carbon-friendly” goat cheese. The cheese is made using milk from the herd at Hawaii Island Goat Dairy, which is fed limu kohu seaweed from Blue Ocean Barns. The particular diet helps cut the goats’ methane emission by 85%. Other recently-launched sustainability measures involve working to reduce the weight of wine and liquor bottles. About 25% of the restaurant’s wine bottles now weigh three pounds or less, but Merriman’s is also working toward rethinking the vessels in general, including working with local wineries and distillers to implement biodegradable packaging, and even envisioning a whole new operating system." - Regan Stephens