Trust shortlisted for national award recognising food waste reduction success
Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust has been shortlisted for the Best Reduction of Food Waste, in The Awards for Excellence Waste Management for the NHS, in recognition of its work to significantly reduce food waste across its inpatient services.
The shortlisting celebrates a Trust-wide initiative that has seen food waste reduce by more than 20 tonnes over the past two years, delivering environmental, financial and operational benefits while ensuring patients continue to receive nutritious, high-quality meals.
Following the introduction of dedicated food waste collections across inpatient sites, colleagues from Estates and Facilities, Catering, Sustainability and Dietetics came together to better understand where waste was being produced and develop practical solutions to reduce it. Working alongside clinical teams and patients, the project introduced menu reviews, staff training, improved waste monitoring and education around food waste segregation.
The initiative has delivered two consecutive years of more than a 10% reduction in food waste. From 101.8 tonnes collected during the first full year of monitoring, the Trust reduced this to 91.3 tonnes in 2024/25, with a further reduction to 79.9 tonnes in 2025/26 across its major sites. Even with the addition of 13 community sites to the collection programme, the Trust still achieved an overall reduction of almost 10%.
Alongside reducing waste, the project has lowered the carbon emissions associated with food waste disposal, improved catering efficiency by identifying meals that were consistently uneaten, and enabled reduced collection frequencies at some sites, further lowering costs and environmental impact.
The work forms part of Nottinghamshire Healthcare's wider Green Plan, supporting the Trust's commitment to delivering more sustainable healthcare while improving services for patients.
Dawn Chambers, Strategic Director of Estates and Facilities said, "Being shortlisted is fantastic recognition of the collaborative work that has taken place across the Trust. This success has only been possible because colleagues from so many different teams have worked together to challenge how we do things, share ideas and make meaningful improvements.
"Reducing food waste isn't simply about protecting the environment. It's about making the best possible use of NHS resources, improving the efficiency of our services and ensuring we continue to provide high-quality, nutritious meals for the people in our care. I'm incredibly proud of what our teams have achieved and we're committed to building on this success."
The Trust is continuing to build on the initiative through the planned introduction of a digital patient meal ordering system, enhanced waste reporting through a new Power BI dashboard, ongoing menu reviews and continued engagement with colleagues and patients to further reduce waste across its services.
The winners of the national awards will be announced at the awards ceremony later this year.
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