‘We are anarchists’: The zero-waste restaurants that don’t even have bins

Hazel Sheffield meets the minds behind Nolla and Silo, the restaurants that take your order in pencil, avoid plastic-packaged ingredients and start composting your leftovers before you’ve paid the bill

Carlos Henriques, Albert Franch Sunyer and Luka Balak, the founders of Nolla (Nolla)

When restaurant Nolla in Helsinki reopened in a new location in July, it had all the hallmarks of the most sustainable of modern restaurants. The stylish drinking glasses were made from bottles with the tops cut off. The kitchen staff wore fetching aprons tailored from recycled bedsheets. An in-house brewery converted food waste into craft ales and served them from 10 taps.

But Nolla does not just dabble in sustainability. It takes it so seriously that the cooking uses no spices. The waiters take their orders with pencils instead of pens. Perhaps most striking of all: the kitchen has no bin. Instead, a silver generator sits proudly in the corner of the restaurant turning any food waste into compost.

That’s because Nolla is a zero-waste restaurant, committed to using ingredients and products that do not create waste. So far, the restaurant’s co-owners Carlos Henriques, Albert Franch Sunyer and Luka Balak, have not found a way to procure pepper and spices without creating waste, so they do without. They permit no single-use plastic, including plastic packaging, cling film, vacuum bags or silver foil. Even the gift cards are made of compostable paper – with poppy seeds in, so guests can grow their own flowers.