Sustainability
The growing importance of sustainable care
With sustainability now on every provider’s radar, food waste is an important issue that cannot be ignored. Fortunately, a number of solutions are on hand, as Richard Woodward, general manager of care homes at apetito, explains
In recent years, the human impact on the environment has been spoken about more than ever before, and our responsibilities as both individuals and businesses towards limiting these impacts have become more important. While everybody understands that doing business in a more sustainable way and addressing carbon emissions is clearly ‘the right thing to do’, it is also becoming increasingly recognised and measured via regulatory bodies – encouraging businesses to step up and implement change. This emerging shift in reporting and regulation demonstrates the growing importance for transparency in this space, and for businesses to demonstrate their approach in reducing environmental impacts. Care homes, with their potential for high energy consumption, water usage, and waste generation, can have a significant environmental footprint. Therefore, making even small changes could have a large impact.
Fundamentally, weaving sustainability into business is the right thing to do for the environment and long-term health of the planet. But beyond that, there are plenty of other good reasons why homes should be prioritising sustainable practices. With sustainability climbing up the priority list, more people are beginning to form an opinion on the subject. This additional public perception demands more action from businesses to ensure they are prioritising social responsibility and maintaining both reputation and
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credibility. When it comes to choosing a care home for a loved one, families are starting to take sustainability into consideration, too. Therefore, having a plan in place with a clear direction may actually help care homes attract residents and drive business growth.
Alongside this, there may be opportunities for homes to see cost savings through making some sustainable switches. For instance, cutting down on food waste during mealtimes – perhaps by using pre-portioned meal solutions – can be advantageous both environmentally and economically. This approach means less money goes ‘down the drain’ with discarded meals, while also driving a reduction in waste disposal costs. Paying more attention to the use of utilities and identifying efficiencies can also provide a dual benefit, with reducing water waste and energy usage helping to support sustainability goals while lowering monthly
Weaving sustainability into business is the right thing to do for the environment
bills for homes.
When embarking on a journey to reduce carbon emissions, care homes can look to prioritise some key areas.
Reducing food waste Food waste is one significant area of concern within care home catering, so it is important to implement methods of reducing the amount of food ending up in the bin. Around one third of food produced globally is either lost or wasted, equating to around 1.3 billion tonnes of food waste per year. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change estimates that this contributes to between 8-10 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions – demonstrating the sheer size of the challenge. It is estimated by the Waste Resource Action Programme (WRAP) that the UK is responsible for 10.7 million tonnes of this food waste, which could have been converted into a staggering 15 million meals – enough to feed the entire UK population three meals a day for over three months. To understand the impact that food
waste has on the environment, we must look at the entire lifecycle of food, right
www.thecarehomeenvironment.com June 2024
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