1. Less Food To Landfill
Good Day, Thank you for taking the time to learn about food waste and the importance of developing a food waste management plan. The goal of this presentation is to raise awareness around food waste and the potential to prevent it altogether, develop a donation program and avoid landfilling through animal feeding, digestion or composting. A food waste protocol should be part of any sustainability program.

2. Food Waste Facts
More food reaches landfills and incinerators than any other single material in municipal solid waste. (EPA)
52 million tons of food is sent to landfill annually (21% of landfill volume), plus another 10 million tons is discarded or left unharvested on farms.  (ReFed) This is 31-40% of the total food supply.
Food services is responsible for million tons of wasted food each year.  (Feeding America)
Hospitals generate over 29 pounds of waste per staffed bed per day.  It is estimated that 10-15% of an average hospital’s waste is comprised of food waste. (Practice Greenhealth and Biocycle)
According to EPA, food decomposing in landfills generates methane, a greenhouse gas, 25 times more potent than carbon dioxide over a 100 year time period.
Let’s start with some food waste facts. More food reaches landfills and incinerators than any other single material in the waste stream. According to the Practice Greenhealth Benchmark report, hospitals generate over 29 pounds of waste per staffed bed per day and according to Biocycle, it is estimated that 10-15% of an average hospital’s waste is comprised of food waste. It’s astonishing to learn just how much food ends up in landfills when there are so many hungry people. While many hospitals are working to improve their environmental performance, it’s only recently recognized that food that decomposes in landfills, generates methane, a greenhouse gas – and one in seven people are hungry or at risk of being hungry. It’s time to make the connection – to waste less, donate and divert food from landfills. Learning the facts is the first step.

3. EPA Food Recovery Hierarchy
"Let's feed people, not landfills. By reducing wasted food in landfills, we cut harmful methane emissions that fuel climate change, conserve our natural resources, and protect our planet for future generations,"
-- EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy.
According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, in 2013, approximately 14 percent of American households were uncertain of having or unable to acquire enough food to meet the needs of all of their members at some time during the year.  This is one in seven people.   In the Fall of 2015, the USDA and the US EPA announced a joint partnership to reduce food waste by 50% by At the announcement, USDA’s Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said "The United States enjoys the most productive and abundant food supply on earth, but too much of this food goes to waste," "An average family of four leaves more than two million calories, worth nearly $1500, uneaten each year. Our new reduction goal demonstrates America's leadership on a global level in in getting wholesome food to people who need it, protecting our natural resources, cutting environmental pollution and promoting innovative approaches for reducing food loss and waste.“ The EPA highlights the strategies to take, in order, based on the food recovery hierarchy – Prevention of food waste altogether, donation of food to food banks, animal feeding and other methods to avoid landfill including composting or digestion.
USDA and EPA Shared Goal –
50% food waste reduction by 2030

4. Less Food Waste Team
Janet Howard, Director, Member Engagement and Healthier Hospitals, Practice Greenhealth, Convener
Jona Gallagher, National Sales Manager, EnviroPure Systems
Janet Bowen, US EPA Region 1
Janet Haugan, Director of Marketing & Product Management, LeanPath, Inc.
Mike Geller, Manager, Regional Sustainability, Providence Health & Services
Kas Logan, Senior Manager of Culinary Operations, Providence Health & Services
Dana A. Slade, CHMM, Sustainability Program Manager, HealthPartners
Jeff Hogan, Energy and Sustainability Manager, Montefiore Health System
Tony Pupillo,  Director of Foodservice and Convenience Stores,  Feeding America
Emily Fabel, Center for Eco Technology (New England)
Anna Ward, Sustainability Manager, HCA
Katie Wickman, Environmental Stewardship Coordinator, Advocate Health Care
Mary Ellen Leciejewski, Director of Ecology, Dignity Health
Maureen Husek, Director, Nutrition and Retail Services, Beaumont Hospital - Royal Oak
Consulted: Cecilia DeLoach Lynn, Christopher Bodkin, Thresa Pattee, Stacia Clinton - Practice Greenhealth and Health Care without Harm
Practice Greenhealth convened a team to develop a less food to landfill goal and toolkit to mobilize the health care community around this important issue. The group worked together to capture expertise in the EPA food recovery hierarchy and best practices for health care food waste prevention, donation and landfill avoidance. Practice Greenhealth’s goal and toolkit is intended to help hospitals, with educational information and shared best practices, meet the goals as set by the EPA and USDA. The Practice Greenhealth community is appreciative of the expertise that was convened for the goal and for the opportunity to raise awareness around food waste and health care.

5. Commit to Food Waste Prevention and Management
Commit to the Less Waste Food to Landfill Goal
Choose parameters (pre consumer, cafeteria, patient trays, catering)
Capture baseline in pounds per day (Toolkit shares worksheet and estimate calculation sheet)
Reduce food waste by 10, 20 or 50%
Report progress in Practice Greenhealth Environmental Excellence Award
The food waste reduction goal starts with capturing baseline generation in pounds of food waste in a 24 hour period of a typical day. Hospitals can choose their parameters including pre consumer – that is – before it is served to anyone (kitchen or left over in a cafeteria service area), patient trays (what is leftover on the patient tray when it is returned to the kitchen), post consumer from the cafeteria – that is left over from visitors or put out but never taken from a buffet or salad bar in the cafeteria and lastly from catering – left over from catered events. Once the parameter is identified, the baseline can be conducted which can include waste collected over 24 hours, 48 hours or a week – depending on the choice of the facility. The full week is best to capture the variation of waste generation based on varying staff but some may choose to collect waste for one or two days. The important thing is to get an estimate of the amount of food waste generated to track progress through EPA Food Recovery Hierarchy and work towards the goal of 50% food waste reduction. The normalizer is meals. Refer to the toolkit for the definition of a meal that will be used so that hospitals can compare to one another. The toolkit also has a food waste calculation sheet to help conduct the measurement and estimate of food waste generation.

6. Less Waste Toolkit Less Food to Landfill Goal Get Started Guide
Case Studies
Prevention with Gundersen Health
Composting with HealthPartners
Digestion with Montefiore
Posters and templates
Educational Webinar and Sharing Calls
Based on the success of the Healthier Hospitals Initiative, Practice Greenhealth is developing formalized goals with associated toolkits to help hospitals take a formal goal around important topics and have the case studies, guidance, posters and educational offerings to ensure success. The toolkit is available on the Practice Greenhealth website under the Less Waste section of the website and is a membership benefit.

7. Practice Greenhealth and Feeding America Partner on Food Donation
Practice Greenhealth is partnering with Feeding America on food donation to local food banks. Feeding America is the nation’s largest domestic hunger relief
organization—a powerful nationwide network of 200 food banks and 60,000 food pantries and meal programs that provides food and services to people each year. The network serves virtually every community in all 50 states, Washington D.C., and Puerto Rico. As food insecurity rates hold steady at the highest levels ever, the Feeding America network of food banks has risen to meet the need. They feed 46 million people at risk of hunger, including 12 million children and 7 million seniors. In 2015, their network distributed more than 3.5 billion meals to people. Refer to the Get Started Guide for more information and to contact Feeding America for more information.

8. Education Five Part Sharing Call Series is archived and ready for use.
1. Understanding the Issue
2. Assessment and Prevention (biggest cost and environmental potential)
3. Donation
4. On-site Digestion
5. Composting and Animal Feeding
Practice Greenhealth convened a five-part call series with each call focusing on one section of the food recovery hierarchy. These calls are perfect for bringing the team together, viewing them in order and having an action-oriented discussion.

9. Resources Visit the Website for Goal Worksheets Toolkit Case Studies
Educational Calls
Reach out to member engagement
Liaison for technical assistance

10. Learn More