Sustainability is an organisational priority and reducing food waste, a key target for South Metropolitan Area Health Service (SMHS) environmental sustainability strategy. The environmental and economic impacts of food waste in Australia are significant which is compounded by challenges unique to hospital settings, highlighting the need for sustainable practices to minimise waste whilst optimising patient nutrition. Food waste across Fiona Stanley Fremantle Hospital Group (FSFHG) was estimated to be 12,000 Tonnes per month. Strategies already introduced to influence the volume of waste included food organics recycling; removal of single use plastics; using automated menu systems; reducing spare meals; reducing supply chains and removing items on default trays, and plate waste auditing and targeted ward strategies. However, it was identified that more could be done. A single day audit found that 1,873 unopened single serve portions of shelf stable items were returned to the kitchen equating to $200,000 per year in food costs.
The aim of the project was to investigate the feasibility of a food rescue program to rescue and donate items on food trays that hadn't entered a patient room, and unopened single serve portions of shelf stable items on patient trays. A working group was formed with all key stakeholders to ensure staff engagement was achieved from the start. Consideration was made regarding infection prevention and control as in the past, hospital infection control has been hesitant to allow unopened items to be re-purposed. An Australian study conducted in 2023 concluded that infection risk was low, and provided the evidence thus it was approved that unopened food items could be if they hadn't been in patient rooms, and unopened items that had been in patient rooms could be donated to charity organisations.
The outcome was the implementation of a food rescue program with ~3.5 Tonnes of food items diverted from landfill in the first 4 months and donated to those in need via charity organisations. Further improvements have been made to reduce factors relating to ongoing waste with more research into the efficacy of reusing products for patients use planned. By redirecting food waste from landfill we continue the commitment to sustainability and responsible resource management.