Sustainability In the face of tight budgets and


spiralling waste management costs, food waste is fast becoming a critical issue for the care sector – both in terms of financial and environmental implications. Embracing innovative waste reduction tactics and looking towards alternative disposal methods must, therefore, be key areas for consideration.


Food waste recycling to the rescue! It is almost impossible to eliminate unavoidable food waste and care homes need a clever solution to manage this waste fraction. After all, sending it to landfill proves a huge financial and environmental drain. While not the silver bullet solution, food waste recycling provides a cost- effective and sustainable alternative. Food waste recycling is a simple


process, which sees food waste degraded in the absence of oxygen. Known as anaerobic digestion (AD), this process captures natural biogas and uses it to create renewable energy. The residual digestate can be used as


a biofertiliser to aid crop growth. Nothing is wasted – a truly circular economy approach! At ReFood, we operate three state-of-the-art AD facilities in the UK, turning hundreds of thousands of tonnes of food waste into renewable energy and biofertiliser every year. Working with organisations nationwide,


including those operating across the care sector, we play a key role in diverting unavoidable waste away from landfill. Across our sites, we generate a huge


volume of renewable energy every year - all from unwanted waste previously binned by households and businesses. Indeed, the 400,000 tonnes of food


waste we collect annually at ReFood creates enough power to fuel 55,000 homes. Care homes can make a massive


difference both to their bottom line and the environment by dealing with the issue of food waste. Landfill should never be an option - it is costly and damaging to the environment. Reducing waste in the first place is a


fundamental step, with redistribution schemes providing the perfect opportunity to feed others with what you do not need. After that, incorporating food waste recycling into everyday practices is the last step in the chain.


Case study: The Oaks care home, York The Oaks is a state-of-the-art care home in New Earswick, York, run by the Joseph Rowntree Housing Trust (JRHT). It is an integral part of the Hartrigg Oaks retirement village, a community of around 400 people. About 40 residents live in the care


home, and about 250 more live in the 152 bungalows that surround the Oaks Centre. The centre is the lively heart of the community – as well as the care home, it contains a large restaurant, a busy coffee shop and a large kitchen area with around 20 staff. This serves not only the two eateries,


but also the many care home residents who take their meals in the care home. Each day, it also delivers meals to bungalow residents in their homes. In addition, the Oaks Centre also


provides the base for the 40 or so trained carers who support bungalow residents where necessary – as well as the 60 or so care home staff, the JRHT management team, and around 20 kitchen staff. With many people and multiple activities, the volume of potential food waste is considerable. In the period up to 2014, there was no


recycling of food waste at Hartrigg Oaks. Instead, all of the food waste from the very busy and highly productive kitchen was simply disposed of by a macerator – a machine that chews up disposable food and flushes it away as waste matter. The JRHT authorities were well on the


way to ordering a replacement when news of these plans reached the Hartrigg Oaks


November 2021 • www.thecarehomeenvironment.com 45


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