Больница Meriter перенаправила более тонны пищевых отходов от захоронения в компост за пять недель

MADISON, WI – UnityPoint Health – Meriter’s Food and Nutrition services has partnered with Green Box Compost, a local environmental waste removal and recycling company based in Sun Prairie, on a composting initiative resulting in the diversion of more than one ton of food scraps from landfills in just five weeks. This initiative focuses on saving food items whenever safety standards allow it, donating extra food to a local food pantry and composting the remaining food waste so it stays out of landfills. The addition of composting is part of a broader, multi-pronged sustainability effort at the hospital’s food and dining facilities to significantly lower its environmental footprint while supporting the Dane County community. The composting milestone joins several other eco-friendly operational shifts within Meriter’s food services. The team has transitioned away from single-use plastics by switching to metal utensils and reducing its plastic straw usage by more than 80 percent. Additionally, kitchen staff started a dedicated herb garden directly on the hospital terrace to source hyper-local ingredients. “Our Food and Nutrition team is always looking for innovative ways to make our hospital kitchen more sustainable,” said Michelle Miller, director of nutrition and hospitality at Meriter. “Seeing this project divert 940 pounds of waste in its earliest weeks and quickly cross the one-ton mark is a massive success. We are incredibly proud of our team’s dedication to going green for both our environment and our neighbors.”