Morrison Healthcare Cuts Food Waste with Waste Not 2.0

With approximately 40% of food going to waste, hospital leaders are in a position to make a quantifiable impact on the industry and their communities. Morrison Healthcare is on the front lines, changing the game by creating sustainable solutions.

Morrison Healthcare launched Waste Not 2.0, Compass Group’s proprietary tool that leverages technology and analytics to track and record food waste types, amounts, and destination. Through this data, hospitals receive valuable insights to create new strategies and address food waste at the source.

“Waste Not 2.0 is the next generation waste reduction tool,” said Heather Farkas, Wellness and Sustainability Corporate Support Manager for Morrison Healthcare. “By utilizing this technology, we can easily identify avoidable waste and take immediate action to reduce it.”

Over the course of a year, Morrison Healthcare increased the number of hospitals using the software from seven to 119. The hospitals that have deployed the program are already seeing a tangible impact on their sustainability initiatives, financial goals and even employee engagement. At Roper St. Francis Healthcare, a four-hospital system based in Charleston, South Carolina, Waste Not 2.0 has made an immediate impact by seamlessly integrating into hospital operations and providing an opportunity to make changes to decrease food waste quickly. Since September of 2020, Roper St. Francis has reduced food waste by 45 % across all four facilities.

In just nine months, Hackensack Meridian Health-Southern Ocean Medical Center in New Jersey, put processes in place that effectively tracked and reduced food waste through Waste Not 2.0.

“It was about having our teams take ownership of the program,” said John Quinn, director of Food & Nutrition at Hackensack Meridian Health - Southern Ocean Medical Center. “By giving our associates the power to affect change, they made great strides to boost our food waste initiatives.” There, food waste decreased by 42%. As a bonus, the hospital reduced food costs by 4%.

Morrison Healthcare is making a difference in the community and inside the walls of the hospitals it serves. By pioneering sustainable food and nutrition services solutions, Morrison Healthcare is changing the game and delivering results.

“Waste Not 2.0 is a game-changer,” said Allison Trinkle, Director of Culinary Sustainability, Chartwells Higher Education. “Our clients want us to show them how we are good sustainable partners, and Waste Not 2.0 gives us the data to tell our story.”