I don’t normally take pictures in restaurant bathrooms. Ok, so maybe I do, but that’s not something I like to talk about on the blog. The point is that the other day, I met my parents for lunch at Lupa (I’m going to blog about their tartufo, the best I’ve ever had, later in the week) and something in the bathroom made such an impression on me that I took a picture of it. You probably can’t make out the words, though, so let me explain.
That sign says (let me squint a little):
“LUPA is proud to feature FURTHER HAND SOAP in our wash rooms. The glycerin in this soap is distilled from the waste grease produced in Mario Batali Restaurants. The grease is converted into clean burning biofuel and the extracted glycerin is purified to become FURTHER SOAP. As you wash your hands, you are completing a perfect, sustainable circle.”
After some more investigation (Googling “further hand soap”), I hit upon the Further web site. Here’s a picture of their soap dispenser:
The website doesn’t offer too much more in the way of information (they also make candles and hand lotion) but I think this is a really commendable and innovative way to recycle kitchen waste while turning a profit. Though I wonder if any among you are squeamish about using hand soap distilled from old cooking grease? Really, you shouldn’t be. After all, you’ve probably eaten something cooked in old cooking grease (that corn dog you ate in Disney World, for example) so you may as well wash your hands with it.
And while we’re on the subject of neat ways to recycle kitchen waste, check out Dorie Greenspan’s clever way of using old mustard bottles. I’m definitely going to give that a try when my mustard runs out!
