"Used cooking oil from American restaurants could provide enough biodiesel fuel to cut oil consumption by 350 million gallons a year - enough to eliminate imports from Syria, Yemen, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, the Ukraine and Bolivia," said Michael Oshman, executive director of the Boston association.
High-profile restaurants that promote themselves as green typically talk about their food: Is it organic and sustainably grown? Do they limit greenhouse gas emissions by buying local ingredients that don't need to be flown halfway around the world?
But there's a second, behind-the-scenes aspect to being a green restaurant that diners rarely see. This involves the same challenges faced by other kinds of small businesses trying to be environmentally sensitive - conserving water and electricity, choosing greener cleaning products, recycling and composting more of their trash. Scott Tuffnell introduced recycling to Bianco's Deli in El Sobrante, placing empty pickle barrels at each workstation for compostable food waste. He has managed to reduce the trash that Bianco's sends to the landfill from four large bins each week to less than two. Meanwhile, owner Alice Wan took a host of behind-the-scene steps to green Tin's Tea House Lounge in Walnut Creek - from replacing Styrofoam takeout containers with biodegradable ones made of cornstarch to installing low-flow nozzles and faucets in her busy kitchen. 
The Green Restaurant Association provides information on how to green your restaurant at www.dinegreen.com.
What are you doing to simultaneously cut costs and go green?
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