Food Waste: A healthcare case study

A healthcare case study

Abstract

This research project explored solutions for food waste reduction and mitigation across Te Whatu Ora / New Zealand Public Hospital systems by looking at the case study of Dunedin Public Hospital. Directly relating and supporting Sustainable  Development Goal (SDG) 12.3, to halve global food waste at consumer and retail levels by 2030. This research was done by  analysing appropriate literature exploring food and organic waste management strategies in national and international hospital service sectors and systems, further using the Food Recovery Hierarchy as a framework, which ranks the effects of these  strategies when looking at them financially, environmentally and socially. Furthermore, this research looks at the barriers and  enablers of the suggested organic waste management strategies. A food waste audit was conducted at Dunedin Public Hospital to assess and quantify the current organic waste within the system. The key questions of this study are: How do we prevent organic waste in the first place (preparation strategies)? What can we do with the organic waste produced to prevent it from going to landfills? What items in the food system are the most wasted? How much Greenhouse gas (GHG) is produced by this organic waste going to landfill? Organic waste produces methane, occupies land mass and has the potential for groundwater  contamination. Ten per cent of total global GHG Emissions come from food waste, 22% of which is occurring at the consumption level. The key impact of this research is to mitigate organic waste going to landfills to reduce further climate change, thus  benefiting environmentally, socially and economically.

Supervised by: Ray O'Brien & Craig Cliff, Sustainability Office, University of Otago
Scholarship funded by: Te Whatau Ora Southern