Garbage Cocktails Could Be The Future Of Sustainable Mixology

What zero-waste cooking is to the food and restaurant industry, the garbage cocktail initiative is to the bar and mixology industry. It's their way of creating more sustainability to combat food waste. And yes — it's all about making cocktails with garbage.

But garbage cocktails are so much better than they sound — in many ways. Spearheaded by a bartending duo who started a pop-up called Trash Tiki in 2016, the initiative has since picked up speed as more bars are doing their part to help mitigate or eliminate food waste that inevitably came with the craft cocktail movement.

Today, you'll find anti-waste or low-waste cocktails on the menu at many sustainability-focused bars and restaurants nationwide, from seafood restaurants in Los Angeles to rooftop hotel bars in Chicago. Sip by sip and ingredient by ingredient, garbage cocktails are slowly creating a sustainable future for the mixology industry.

So, what exactly qualifies as a garbage cocktail ... and what kind of garbage are we talking about? Not to be confused with "trash can cocktails" — which are essentially an umbrella category of strong mixed drinks born out of college parties that contain several different types of liquor — garbage cocktails are less about the ingredients themselves and more about how you use them.

The idea is to repurpose food waste by transforming leftover food from bar and restaurant kitchens that would otherwise be thrown away into cocktail ingredients. The "garbage" can be anything from no-waste citrus peels that have been juiced and discarded to scraps of celery, leftover coffee grounds, to even corn husks.

These ingredients can be creatively repurposed into things like syrups, infusions, citrus stocks, and garnishes to make a cocktail from start to finish that leaves little to no waste behind. The best part? The bartenders and mixologists are often so good at the execution that the cocktails taste great. You may not even realize you're drinking a garbage cocktail, but the environment thanks you.

While this movement is slowly but surely catching on, the craft cocktail industry as a whole still produces a problematic amount of waste, and most bars aren't necessarily prioritizing sustainability. But if you love cocktails and the environment, there are some things you can look out for to choose more sustainable cocktails.

Look for cocktails that use ingredients to their full potential. For example, a drink that contains lime juice and the toasted rind of that lime is used as a smoky garnish to add a depth of flavor. Things like infusions are a good indicator that ingredients are being reused, and anything that's dehydrated or fermented is a good choice since those processes give new life to fruit or vegetables that would have otherwise been perishable.

Another great way to drink more sustainable cocktails: look for local ingredients. Local, seasonal ingredients aren't only fresher and taste better, but they also don't have to travel as far. Choosing local ingredients will benefit the environment by reducing our carbon footprint while benefiting the community by helping the local economy flourish.