Food donation from Hospitals to the territory (Italy)
The PA6 is based on the activity already implemented inside the local Hospital of Asti (local Health Authority-ASL AT): the collection of lunch-packs uneaten from the employee’s canteen of the Local Hospital of Asti. The lunch-packs are fresh, packed in the early morning and collected just after the closure of the canteen service.
At the moment the Local Hospital of Asti can donate 40 lunch-packs of 400 hectograms each one to the municipal canteen for disadvantaged people.
The Regional Authority - Regional Board of Health is interested in developing a joint strategy to replicate the best practice of the Local Hospital of Asti (local Health Authority-ASL AT) in other Hospitals in the Piedmont region.
The Regional Authority - Regional Board of Health is interested in developing a joint strategy to replicate the best practice of the Local Hospital of Asti (local Health Authority-ASL AT) in other Hospitals in the Piedmont region.
LAMORO established a permanent round table (meetings in June, July, August and September 2017, February 2018) with regional stakeholders dealing with Health infrastructures, local representatives of hospitals (on the regional territory) and LAMORO consortium (Municipalities, Chambers of Commerce and Public Administration in general).
On October 2018 a working table event will take place with the representatives of Regional Authority (Health and the Consumer protection that is in charge of the regional law about food waste) and the local hospitals of the piedmont region. On the basis of the Hospital of Asti experience (what is running and what is not well running/SWOT…) LAMORO is implementing the protocol/check list as the tool useful for the regional round table. Tool: technical methods how to store food, technical equipment needed, social cooperative roles, charities involvement, data collection system on food not wasted, law framework. The Regional Authority has given its sponsorship (Board of Health, Board of Consumers protection).
Environmental Benefits of Pilot Action 6
The function of the donation was to redistribute surplus food to those in food-need/poverty, instead of wasting it. The functional unit used was one kg of surplus food that was donated by the hospital of Asti or 1kg of food waste prevented.
Figure 1 A system overview of pilot action 6, donation of lunch packs
During the pilot phase on average 535 portions of food were saved each month. This equals 214 kg of food or food waste prevented. The food is collected daily and organised by a social cooperative. The transport distance from the hospital canteen to the social canteen where they are distributed is 5km.
The meals donated by the hospital of Asti are prevented from waste and are made available for human consumption through the pilot action. In case the pilot action would not have been implemented people would have needed to source their food from another source. Within this assessment it is assumed that the food that is replaced equals the food that is donated. The donated meals consist of: 20% Paste, 30% vegetables, 30% meat or cheese, 20% fruit or desserts.
The meals donated by the hospital of Asti are prevented from waste and are made available for human consumption through the pilot action. In case the pilot action would not have been implemented people would have needed to source their food from another source. Within this assessment it is assumed that the food that is replaced equals the food that is donated. The donated meals consist of: 20% Paste, 30% vegetables, 30% meat or cheese, 20% fruit or desserts.
Figure 2 Life cycle impact assessment results PA 6, donation of lunch packs
Figure 2 gives an overview of the results. The pilot action achieved substantial environmental savings for all impact categories. The environmental impact of the action itself or the transport of the donated food is neglectable for all categories. The result is dominated by the benefit of the substitution of food production.
The potential impact of the avoided waste management of food waste (baseline scenario) is negative or close to zero for most impact categories. For the global warming potential these are dominated by the methane emissions caused by landfilling of food waste. For land use the impact is positive because the benefit arising from incineration with recovery already achieved a credit before the pilot action was implemented.
The pilot action prevented 214 kg of food waste each month or 78 tonnes per year. This equals a saving of 430 tonnes of CO2 eq/a per year.
The potential impact of the avoided waste management of food waste (baseline scenario) is negative or close to zero for most impact categories. For the global warming potential these are dominated by the methane emissions caused by landfilling of food waste. For land use the impact is positive because the benefit arising from incineration with recovery already achieved a credit before the pilot action was implemented.
The pilot action prevented 214 kg of food waste each month or 78 tonnes per year. This equals a saving of 430 tonnes of CO2 eq/a per year.
