About the project
Food waste has economic, population health and environmental impacts. In Australia, food waste accounts for approximately 3% of our annual greenhouse gas emissions. Food waste in healthcare is complex, with three main sources:
- Hospital kitchen food waste including patient plate waste
- Staff food waste
- Hospitality outlet food waste
The Waste Wise Hospitality in Healthcare (WWHH) project specifically targets food waste generated by hospitality businesses operating within healthcare facilities, aiming to establish a circular economy model that mitigates food waste and embeds food waste management systems into business-as-usual practice.
Waste Wise Hospitality in Healthcare project video
Project details
In July 2024, HNELHD, in partnership with local circular economy specialist group Go Circular, received $160,000 under the NSW Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) Business Food Waste Partnership Grant to specifically target food waste generated by hospitality businesses operating in healthcare facilities.
The project was developed, piloted and implemented by the five hospitality outlets operating within the John Hunter Hospital with support from the HNELHD Sustainability Project Team, John Hunter Hospital Facility Management and HealthShare NSW Operations Team.
The WWHH project followed three simple steps:
- Engage
- Detailed stakeholder mapping
- Engage early and often
- Tailor engagement to key stakeholder groups
2. Pilot
- A testing period to refine solutions
- Dynamic education and training tailored to key stakeholder groups
- Robust data driven feedback loops
3. Implement
- Embed cultural and operational change upstream
- Establish a 'new normal'
- Keep a continuous improvement mindset
An implementation toolkit has been developed to support healthcare facilities and hospitality vendors across NSW Health to adopt the project. Additionally, a sustainable procurement retail tender guide has been published to inform future retail tender specifications across the state.
- WWHH Sustainable Procurement Healthcare Retail Tender Guide (PDF 469.24KB)
- WWHH Implementation Toolkit-Healthcare Facility Guide (PDF 2.89MB)
- WWHH Implementation Toolkit - Hospitality Vendor Guide
Results
The WWHH pilot at John Hunter Hospital has demonstrated strong, ongoing commitment from all five privately owned hospitality businesses, which continue to apply the project’s practices to reduce food waste both upstream through improved ordering, preparation, and stock management, and downstream through the collection and diversion of unavoidable food waste.
Collectively, the outlets at John Hunter Hospital are now diverting an average of one tonne of food waste per week from landfill. By diverting 52 tonnes of food waste from landfill over the course of one year, it's anticipated that John Hunter Hospital will avoid 120 tonnes of CO2e emissions. With considered planning and changes to workflows, the results have been achieved and sustained without requiring any additional resourcing. The facility has also realised cost savings associated with waste disposal as food waste is more economical to dispose of then general waste.
WWHH has now been scaled up across HNELHD to include Belmont Hospital, Maitland Hospital and Tamworth Hospital.
Waste Wise Hospitality in Healthcare evaluation video
Lessons learnt
- Early and system wide stakeholder engagement is the key to a well-designed and well received program
- Building capability fosters a culture of sustainability amongst key stakeholders and creates a supportive environment for sustained behaviour change
- Embedding sustainability into procurement decisions is an important lever