The initiative aims to use eggshells and vegetable scraps to create utensils that can be used in the restaurant’s service.

Torres del Paine, October 9, 2024 — “Circular economy is not only crucial for the planet’s well-being but also for the long-term success of organizations,” with this guiding principle, the team at Restaurante Coirón, located in Hotel Las Torres in Torres del Paine National Park, has designed a production line in which much of its waste can find a beneficial end.

Chef Joaquín Pitta, head of the kitchens at Hotel Las Torres, has been working on different strategies for over a year to build a culinary approach aligned with sustainability. This effort gained momentum with the formation of a new team, dedicated to creating a circular economy within the reserve.

According to World Bank data, it’s estimated that each person in Latin America and the Caribbean generates nearly 1 kilo of trash per day, amounting to about 231 million tons of waste annually, more than half of which is food waste.

With this in mind, the hotel’s kitchen team devised a new way of looking at organic waste and maximizing the use of each element so it could be recovered, reused, or recycled.

In this effort, Francisca Guzmán, responsible for sustainable initiatives in the hotel’s kitchens, came up with a series of products that would be developed using food waste, such as eggshells.

Through a grinding process, these eggshells are turned into a powder that, when mixed with a binder, forms the base for bio-ceramics, which can be used to create bowls for the restaurant.

Guzmán also mentions that vegetable peels can be used in this same technique. This process produces bio-leather from pumpkin, cucumber, carrot peels, coffee grounds, potatoes, or beets.

“What we do is dehydrate these peels at room temperature or in the oven, then process them into smaller particles, which are mixed with the binder. The smaller the particle, the denser or harder the bio-material will be, but larger particles result in a more flexible composition,” Guzmán explains.

The binder used complies with all sustainability standards, as it is algae-based. This composition also ensures that the resulting bowls are 100% compostable, meaning if the bio-material breaks, it can be placed in the composter and returned to the natural cycle.

In the last season alone, Hotel Las Torres consumed nearly 120,000 eggs, generating around 900 kg of eggshell waste. This initiative ensures all of this material is reused, instead of ending up in the trash.

Sous-chef Felipe Reyes of Restaurante Coirón at Hotel Las Torres also has plans to use vegetable peels to supplement menu items in inventive ways, rather than discarding them.  For example, carrot scraps might be juiced into  shots to accompany some dishes, onion peels to powder, or fruits like pineapple, plums, and pea pods can be transformed into vinegars. “This way, we’re giving a second or third life to products we would normally throw away,” he says.

Chef Pitta celebrates the first prototypes created by his team. He says, “Working in a place like Torres del Paine National Park reaffirms our commitment to the environment. We are grateful to be in the place we are, and with a conscious mindset, we work to give back to the opportunity we have to be here.”