Ecologic Foodservice Solutions

There is a new trend in health care: greening hospitals to reduce toxins and provide a healthier, healing environment. The Green Guide sought out the top 10 in the U.S.. By Kim Weller, AIA

Since 2000, when the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) started to promote its Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) standards, green building has taken off, producing environmentally sound schools and offices. Now the trend is catching on in health care, as hospitals seek to reduce toxins and provide a healthier, healing environment.

By taking up green practices, whether incrementally or from the ground up, many hospitals are managing to lower energy bills, reduce waste and achieve healthier indoor air.

Green hospitals make good sense for the health of the entire community: patients, staff and visitors. To prevent spread of infection in hospitals, it's important to reduce exposures to germs—especially for patients with compromised immune systems—but the use of harsh chemical cleaners can cause respiratory problems. Conventional cleaning products, as well as many paints, adhesives and furnishings, can give off irritating, allergenic fragrances and toxic volatile organic chemicals (VOCs) such as formaldehyde; by choosing low-VOC products, hospitals help those in their care recover and improve conditions for staff. Simple design changes can work wonders, too. Studies have shown that poor indoor lighting increases levels of stress in hospital workers, leading to compromised medical care. "Daylighting" (that is, bringing daylight indoors with enlarged windows, light wells, clerestory windows and reflective surfaces), not only improves work performance but has been shown to improve patient recovery rates, while saving energy.

Hospitals are known for having sick people but they contain even more hungry people: In the case of St. Joseph Hospital, 100 beds worth of them, plus hundreds of staffers and volunteers.

The result is lots and lots of food thrown out, which really annoys Mark McKenna - who, among other things, oversees the hospital's trash-disposal budget.

"We've been recycling since 2009, and this just seemed like the next natural step," said McKenna, director of hospitality services.

In November, the hospital began a food-composting system, separating all food scraps during preparation in the kitchen so they can be picked up and turned into natural fertilizer instead of landfill filler.

"It was maybe a little bit difficult in the beginning, but not any more," said Elena Kharina, a cook, gesturing at a "slim jim," a type of trash can. "We throw all food there."

The result is good for the environment - and doesn't hurt the bottom line, McKenna said.

Waste that's sent to a Haverhill incinerator costs $78.50 a ton to get rid of, plus a $121 hauling fee; compostable food costs $35 a ton to get rid of, with a $40 hauling fee. This isn't much money in the scheme of the $950,000 food budget, since the hospital generates about 11/2 tons of food waste a month, but every bit helps.

McKenna says he worked on the project for nearly a year before it could be started, largely because it was hard finding somebody to pick up the separated food.

The food is picked up once a week by New England Solid Waste Consultants Inc. in Rowley, Mass. - the only major hauler for it in the region.

Food waste makes up nearly 20 percent of business for the New England Solid Waste, said owner Roy Ferreira Jr.