A restaurant with three green leaves, the highest grade in Huzhou's grading system for green restaurants in a campaign to combat food waste. [Photo/hz66.com]

A "green restaurant" campaign was recently launched in Huzhou, East China's Zhejiang province, to combat food waste.

During the campaign, restaurants from across the city will be classified into three grades in accordance with their number of green leaves.

A plate of green leaves can be applied by catering enterprises as long as they implement measures including the "Empty Your Plates" program rolled out by local authorities to tackle food waste.

Those rolling out incentives to encourage customers to empty plates and launching small-portioned dishes can apply for a plate with up to three green leaves.

Model restaurants in the campaign will be showcased in a government-sponsored online platform.

This year, the city plans to issue 3,000 leaves in an effort to construct 1,000 green restaurants. The first batch of model green restaurants in the city has already been released.