Skye Gyngell’s Spring to be plastic free by 2019

Chef Syke Gyngell is ambitiously pledging to make her Somerset House restaurant Spring plastic free by 2019, and will start by ditching clingfilm.

Skye Gyngell is aiming to make Spring at Somerset House plastic free by 2019

Gyngell was inspired bin all plastic at Spring after watching the Netflix documentary Plastic Ocean and hopes others in the industry will follow suit.

Her green mission starts this month, when all clingfilm will be phased out of use at Spring, which will be replaced with biodegradable alternatives.

Spring at Somerset House

Last November Gyngell launched a sustainable menu called Scratch to raise awareness about food waste. At the same time she got rid of plastic straws Spring.

With the help of green campaigner Sian Sutherland, her next steps will be to eradicate the use of plastic containers in the restaurant and other single use plastics. Her ultimate goal is to be one of London’s first plastic free restaurants by 2019.

With her focus on responsible consumerism in the restaurant industry, Gyngell is a pioneer for environmental issues in the trade. With this new initiative she hopes to make a small impact on an increasingly topical and pressing global problem.

“After speaking to Sian I gained such an insight on the effect that plastic has on our planet, that it got me thinking about how we could try and do something as a restaurant to reduce this footprint for future generations,” she said.

“I looked at Spring and was overwhelmed by the amount of plastic we use – it’s everywhere, from something so simple as a recipe file to clingfilm. I wanted the elimination of plastic at Spring to be our new goal for 2018,” she added.

Meanwhile, Welsh chef Bryn Williams has taken over Tom’s Kitchen at Somerset House and will make a hero of vegetables at his restaurant.

Among the dishes on his modern British menu will be chargrilled leeks, Burke Brown egg and morels; and grilled cauliflower with golden raisins, capers and soft polenta.