Already certified as “green” by the Green Restaurant Association, the Draft House in DeWitt now has another environmental award to celebrate: recognition by the Tri-County Waste Reduction Awards Program (WRAP).

The Draft House, which has become accustomed to winning annual “best burger in town” awards, has won a 2008 WRAP for its efforts to become more pro-environment. Among its eco-friendly efforts has been the reduction in its water consumption by over half and becoming styrofoam free.

The Tri-County Waste Reduction Awards Program is a regional program that recognizes local businesses and other groups for their outstanding efforts to reduce waste, recycle and conserve natural resources.

The Draft House, which in 2007 became only the third restaurant in Michigan to achieve green status, has invested some money to run greener. The restaurant spent $10,000 on new equipment to reduce water usage by 54 percent.

“This journey to become more green-minded has really been exciting. We really are doing things to help protect the planet. It’s been worth the extra effort,” Irish declared.

Irish said he became interested in recycling after his young daughter came home from school one day and asked, “Why isn’t our family recycling?” Irish had always looked at himself as being environmentally friendly, but wasn’t a practicing environmentalist.

With several trips to Granger Recycling, Irish said his family set up a recycling program for home. He then turned his attention to the family business.

Irish estimated that nearly 90 percent of the restaurant’s landfill trash came from its prep kitchen area. So Irish built a recycling center for glass, plastic, tin and aluminum, which has reduced hauls to the landfill by 50 percent.

“The key to this is making it convenient for the employees to participate. Our setup makes it just as easy to recycle as it does to throw something out. The employees appreciate the difference we are trying to make,” Irish said.

And customers do, too.

“I hear from people who come in that they appreciate the effort we are making. We have been very proactive the past year and people notice,” Irish said.

Irish’s father, Art Irish, founded The Draft House in 1982 near DeWitt on U.S. Highway 27. Lee Irish has owned the restaurant since 1989. The younger Irish managed restaurants in California while living there in the 1980s and also studied restaurant management at Grand Valley State University.

“This has been so much fun. I love the restaurant business. We have been fortunate that we have seen a rise in customer base. Sales have been brisk despite the economy,” Irish said.

The Draft House, which has 23 employees, has always been known for its burgers, but also offers a full menu with excellent steak, pasta and Mexican food. The pub has 12 beers on tap, and are the exclusive source of Magic Hat Brewery’s #9 amber ale.

Irish’s eco-friendly steps include food selection. He orders only sustainable seafood to avoid fishing methods that harm the environment and orders fairtrade coffee that is grown without pesticides.

“It’s not easy sourcing seafood from sustainable means. I research online for environmentalists who are studying fisheries and fish populations. For instance, our salmon was Norwegian and some Atlantic salmon, but we switched to wild Coho Pacific salmon. Great fish and very sustainable,” Irish said.

The Draft House has also installed motion detectors to turn off lights, replaced chlorine bleach with cleaners that avoid harsh chemicals and stocks recycled paper towels.

Some of the green-minded steps have been fairly inexpensive, Irish said, while others have been more complex.

“Installing compact fluorescent light bulbs is a simple step. But it all helps to reduce our carbon footprint,” he explained.

Next for Irish and his restaurant, which is obligated to take on four new green initiatives per year to hang on to its green certification, is installing an intelligent hood fan ventilation system that monitors air temperatures and turns the fan speed down when appropriate to conserve energy.

“We also recently went nonsmoking on the main level of the restaurant,” Irish said.

Other plans call for creating a new bar on the lower level, which will allow smoking, and converting former banquet space into a discotheque.