TY - JOUR
T1 - Waste generation and carbon emissions of a hospital kitchen in the US
T2 - Potential for waste diversion and carbon reductions
AU - Thiel, Cassandra L.
AU - Park, Si Woon
AU - Musicus, Aviva A.
AU - Agins, Jenna
AU - Gan, Jocelyn
AU - Held, Jeffrey
AU - Horrocks, Amy
AU - Bragg, Marie A.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 Thiel et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
PY - 2021/3
Y1 - 2021/3
N2 - This study measured the total quantity and composition of waste generated in a large, New York City (NYC) hospital kitchen over a one-day period to assess the impact of potential waste diversion strategies in potential weight of waste diverted from landfill and reduction in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. During the one-day audit, the hospital kitchen generated 1515.15 kg (1.7 US tons) of solid waste daily or 0.23 kg of total waste per meal served. Extrapolating to all meals served in 2019, the hospital kitchen generates over 442,067 kg (487 US tons) of waste and emits approximately 294,466 kg of CO2e annually from waste disposal. Most of this waste (85%, 376,247 kg or 415 US tons annually) is currently sent to landfill. With feasible changes, including increased recycling and moderate composting, this hospital could reduce landfilled waste by 205,245 kg (226 US tons, or 55% reduction) and reduce GHG emissions by 189,025 kg CO2e (64% reduction). Given NYC's ambitious waste and GHG emission reduction targets outlined in its OneNYC strategic plan, studies analyzing composition, emissions, and waste diversion potential of large institutions can be valuable in achieving city sustainability goals.
AB - This study measured the total quantity and composition of waste generated in a large, New York City (NYC) hospital kitchen over a one-day period to assess the impact of potential waste diversion strategies in potential weight of waste diverted from landfill and reduction in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. During the one-day audit, the hospital kitchen generated 1515.15 kg (1.7 US tons) of solid waste daily or 0.23 kg of total waste per meal served. Extrapolating to all meals served in 2019, the hospital kitchen generates over 442,067 kg (487 US tons) of waste and emits approximately 294,466 kg of CO2e annually from waste disposal. Most of this waste (85%, 376,247 kg or 415 US tons annually) is currently sent to landfill. With feasible changes, including increased recycling and moderate composting, this hospital could reduce landfilled waste by 205,245 kg (226 US tons, or 55% reduction) and reduce GHG emissions by 189,025 kg CO2e (64% reduction). Given NYC's ambitious waste and GHG emission reduction targets outlined in its OneNYC strategic plan, studies analyzing composition, emissions, and waste diversion potential of large institutions can be valuable in achieving city sustainability goals.
KW - Carbon Dioxide/analysis
KW - Composting/methods
KW - Food Service, Hospital/organization & administration
KW - Greenhouse Gases/analysis
KW - Hospitals
KW - Humans
KW - New York City
KW - Recycling/methods
KW - Solid Waste/analysis
KW - Waste Management/methods
KW - Waste Products/analysis
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U2 - 10.1371/journal.pone.0247616
DO - 10.1371/journal.pone.0247616
M3 - Article
C2 - 33730046
AN - SCOPUS:85102727098
SN - 1932-6203
VL - 16
JO - PloS one
JF - PloS one
IS - 3
M1 - e0247616
ER -