Sustainability in healthcare: Monash Dietetics students spark campaign to reduce food waste

Do you know that your food waste could be used to make electricity? Monash Dietetics students Stephanie Ristovski and Carolin Chou highlight their recent foodservice placement at Eastern Health’s Murrenda Residential Aged Care Home in Wantirna promoting the new installation of the WasteMaster.

Healthcare is contributing to the food waste problem

In Australia, we throw out more than 7.6 million tonnes of food every year, and more than 5 million tonnes of which ends up in landfill. This results in the release of methane gases and other unpleasant environmental consequences. If food waste was a country, it would be the third largest contributor to greenhouse gas emissions.

Healthcare settings are some of the biggest contributors to food waste. Some reasons for large amounts of food waste in healthcare settings include overproduction of food, illness induced poor appetite among patients, medical interruptions and poor meal quality. This August, Eastern Health has taken a big step towards a more sustainable future by introducing the WasteMaster in Murrenda Residential Aged Care Home, a machine that turns food waste into energy.

Moving healthcare settings towards a more sustainable future

To raise awareness of the installation of this machine, we developed an in-person-stand at Murrenda. Our stand enabled us to not only inform the visitors about the Australian food waste crisis but also how the WasteMaster works and why it is needed in healthcare settings. By increasing the awareness of the WasteMaster, we aim to increase the use of the WasteMaster by the staff at Eastern health and divert more foodwaste from landfill. 

The WasteMaster by Green Eco Technologies, takes energy out of food without the use of additives, water, and extreme heat, and reduces the initial weight of the food waste by up to 80%. Therefore, 100kg of food waste can be reduced to only 20kg. What comes out is an odour free, coffee ground looking residue, which will then be sent to an anaerobic digester. The anaerobic digester converts the residue into electricity that goes back into the power grid. One tonne of the residue can power up 80 houses daily. The quantities of food waste loaded into the machine as well as the reduced food waste resulting from the WasteMaster between late August to the end of September 2022 was collected and analysed. We created promotional infographics and images to increase awareness of the WasteMaster to the staff. 

In addition to running the stand as a promotional method, we also worked alongside the Eastern Health Communication Team to promote the stand and the WasteMaster on Eastern Health platforms. This promotional strategy allowed us to spread the information throughout different sites of Eastern Health and we were able to capture a larger audience thanks to the use of social networking. This is evidenced by visitors stating that they learned about the stand on workplace platforms or from another co-worker and would like to give it a visit.

The shockingly large amount of food waste

In the first 5 weeks following the installation, more than 1100kg of food waste was generated in Murrenda. Such a large amount of food waste was generated in under two months’ time from only 77 residents in the facility. This highlights the concerning quantities of food waste and why sustainability innovations are required.

Visitors to the stand showed positive attitude towards this initiative 

The stand had more than 50 visitors and more than 40 surveys were collected. Most visitors were aware of the food waste crisis however did not know the WasteMaster existed. All visitors were satisfied with healthcare settings taking the initiative to repurpose food waste and agreed more food services should introduce a WasteMaster. Other positive feedback and comments were also captured throughout the conversations with the visitors and positive attitudes towards this initiative in healthcare settings were recognised.

 

By Carolin Chou and Stephanie Ristovski

Carolin and Steph are Masters of Dietetics Students who completed their food service placement in Eastern Health under the supervision of a team of experienced dietitians: Stefanie Carino, Melanie Myers and Selina Wang. Sustainability in food service has been included in the scope of dietetic practice, and this project was an opportunity for the students to explore dietetic practice from a different angle.

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