SCH Food Services embrace more Green, healthy practices

The buzz around SCH in recent months has been all about the food — and it just got louder this week.

Starting Monday, Aug. 2, the SCH cafeteria, Chill, is serving up dishes using eco-friendly, plant-based, biodegradable plates, containers, plastic ware and cups. Using these new compostable, yet sturdy, products will help SCH save energy, reduce greenhouse gases and cut down on environmental waste that is produced with normal, petroleum-based plastic or Styrofoam products.

This initiative will bring SCH one step closer to 100 percent compliance with the Green Guide for Healthcare, a best practices guide for healthy and sustainable building design, construction and operations for the healthcare industry.

The SCH”s Green Team has been working to meet the Guide”s requirements over the past two years. Along with numerous green building initiatives and multiple recycling and waste reduction efforts throughout the hospital, the progress made in the Cafeteria and Patient Food Services has particularly drawn community and media attention, helping build SCH”s reputation as an environmentally conscious institution.

In the past year alone, the Cafeteria and Patient Food Services have received recognition for their efforts to offer patients, visitors and employees healthy food, as well as efficient, eco-friendly practices and products. These initiatives include:

• In May 2010, SCH joined nearly 300 hospitals nation-wide to sign a pledge to boost the nutritional value and environmental credentials of patient food. Throughout the summer, SCH has been recognized in numerous media outlets, including Crain”s Chicago Business and The Chicago Tribune, for being a leader in these efforts, and particularly for our pledge to only serve antibiotic-free beef.
• In Spring 2010, Patient Food Services was recognized for their efforts to reduce costs in the hospital to help SCH meet our $3 million financial goal. Both ABC and CBS news broadcasts, and many print articles, reported that the hospital kitchen saved $15,000 by renegotiating the cost of milk and streamlining the food production process by adjusting recipes.
• In Spring 2010, the American Dietetic Association arranged a photo shoot of our Patient Food Services staff and Registered Dietitians for a public education campaign about dietitians.
• In Summer 2009, the kitchen installed a ”pulper” which Patient Food Services uses to reduce the volume of food waste and the number of trash pick-ups required.
• In Summer 2009, the Cafeteria began selling reusable hot/cold mugs for employees to reduce waste from paper and plastic cups.

Thank you to Maria Simmons, manager of Patient Food Service and Cafeteria, and all the staff members in these departments for your hard work and efforts to make SCH and the world more sustainable.

Quick facts on the new Cafeteria products:
The majority of new products in the cafeteria are from a company known as Eco-Products.

In one year, the food service organizations using these products save:

• 8,629,476 kW hours of energy — the equivalent to 742,414 gallons of gasoline.
• 13,478,914 pounds of greenhouse gases — the equivalent of taking 1,306 cars off the roads for a year.

Source: Ecoproducts.com