![]() ![]() Laura Ippen is the sustainability coordinator at Iowa Health Systems. Due to a reduction in tipping fees, Iowa Health Systems also recognized a savings of $8,700 in 2012. Methodist West Hospital had sent 12,460 pounds of food waste to a composting facility in just four months. By the end of 2012, since the inception of the composting project, Iowa Lutheran Hospital had sent a total of 86,953 pounds of both kitchen waste and patient tray waste to a composting facility. In the fall of 2012, Methodist West Hospital in West Des Moines was added to the composting project. In the summer of 2011, Iowa Health Systems implemented a pilot program at Iowa Lutheran Hospital in Des Moines that allowed for a private company to haul food waste to a composting facility. The next step was to implement a composting project that would further divert food waste from Iowa landfills. The beneficial achievements of the food waste reduction program led Iowa Health Systems to reach for further success with new goals. By 2011 with the addition of two more hospitals and one medical center to the program, this number had grown to 347,514 pounds of reduced food waste and a savings of $13,196.16. In 2008, Iowa Health Systems reduced food waste by 70,273 pounds which equated to a savings of $2,785.47. This information was utilized to change purchasing habits and reduce food waste in hospital kitchens through careful monitoring. Food waste was discarded in clear buckets and bags to allow for a visual inspection of the amount and types of food waste entering Iowa landfills. The staff was trained to weigh and record information pertaining to discarded food such as the type of food and the reason for disposal. Beginning in 2008, Iowa Health Systems (now known as UnityPoint Health) spent a year tracking kitchen food waste at three hospitals in an effort to reduce the amount going to landfills.
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