Restaurants push for more green

At its annual convention in Chicago, the National Restaurant Association launched an initiative to lessen the industry's environmental impact—cutting energy use, reducing waste and so on. While clad in feel-good green, such an initiative could also have long-term economic benefits for restaurants.

But in the short term, many restaurants are hurting, battling a soft economy and soaring ingredient and labor costs. The upshot: Restaurant chains with deep pockets, like McDonald's Corp., are likely to seize the moment and sink money into going green. And small operators with shrinking cash flows are more likely to hold back.

Source: The Chicago Tribune