Dry time for kitchens

ASIAN restaurants across Melbourne’s south-east are being encouraged to save more water by switching to waterless woks under a new program aimed at slashing their water use.
The program provides rebates of up to $2000 per restaurant for waterless woks, as well as education material to encourage kitchen staff to save water at work.
At Friday’s launch of South East Water’s new Asian Restaurant Program, Water Minister Tim Holding welcomed Vietnamese restaurant owners, managers and chefs to the program’s first workshop, held at the City of Greater Dandenong’s City Hall.
“Asian restaurants typically use about 8000 litres a day, or up to four times more water than other commercial kitchens, due to the large volume of water needed to cool a conventional wok,” Mr Holding said. “This program will work with Asian restaurants to encourage the use of waterless woks, which will cut water use by more than 40 per cent without impacting on the quality of food.”
Mr Holding said restaurants could achieve further water-saving efficiencies through the use of steamers, taps and dishwashers and saving water in busy commercial kitchens would provide both environmental and financial benefits.
“It’s about encouraging local businesses to become more environmentally sustainable while helping them save money off their water and energy bills,” he said.
The workshop in Springvale is the first of three planned for Asian restaurants in the Springvale, Knox and Port Phillip municipalities.
The new Asian Restaurant Program also includes one-on-one visits to work with chefs and kitchen staff to raise their awareness about water use and encourage water-smart practices.
South East Water’s manager of key customer relationships, Glenn Goldsmith, said the new Asian Restaurant Program complemented other recent programs that targeted water savings in restaurants across Melbourne’s south-east.
Restaurants in South East Water’s area can find out more by calling 1300 760 306.