Reposados was chosen as Wildsight Golden’s climate champion for the month of May. Every month Wildsight Golden’s Climate Action Committee elects a new climate champion in the community based on exceptional things people are doing to reduce their climate/ecological impact.
Mel and Jenna, the Owner Operators of Reposados Tacos, are taking on a number of initiatives to reduce the carbon footprint of their business. They have never offered single-use plastic straws, instead they offer reusable metal straws if people need. They also don’t use plastic bags for takeout; their takeout containers are fully compostable and are sourced from a company called World Centric which donates 25% of their profits to social and environmental organizations. These compostable containers are more expensive than regular containers, making it harder for most other restaurants to want to switch to. All of the food scrap from the restaurant is donated to Castledale Flower Farm to feed their pigs.
There is a 50-cent charge for every takeout order Reposados does that goes to a reforestation company called Edan Reforestation Projects. They are mostly focused on planting mangrove forests, which are a type of tropical/subtropical forest that grows mainly in swamps in coastal areas. Mangroves are extremely important ecologically, as they are habitat for many species including birds, shrimps and monkeys. They also provide a defense against hurricanes by absorbing water during heavy precipitation. Edan Reforestation Projects is also helping providing jobs for communities in over 8 developing countries, giving people a source of income in poverty-stricken regions.
Reposados offers a good selection of vegan options, and Mel and Jenna also decided to take seafood off the menu completely at the end of last year due to the negative impact of industrial fishing on marine ecosystems. They now offer a ‘fishless taco’ with tofu as a replacement cooked in a classic fish batter.
Mel and Jenna have talked about having ‘World Wednesdays’ to promote awareness for climate change. They would also like to see a better recycling system in town for businesses. Reposados for instance produces 50X more recycling than people do in their homes but they are not able to get big recycling bins from the town like they do for garbage bins.
In regards to what they would like to see other businesses in town do, both Mel and Jenna would like to see other businesses recycling more, however this is challenging because they are not given the resources to do this properly or easily. Mel and Jenna drive to the dump every day with massive bags of recycling in their trucks to drop it off at the dump (the recycling depot in town doesn’t accept recycling from businesses anymore).
Mel and Jenna say climate change is an important issue to them for the same reason it should be to everyone else: “our earth is screaming at us for help”. As a business Reposados has a voice that can be used to help influence people in town to reduce their impact on the environment, they say. “We need to set an example for the town, other businesses and the next generation”.