Turning Food Scraps into Soil

Monroe Community Hospital (MCH) has partnered with the City of Rochester for a pilot program to compost food scraps from kitchen operations. This six-month collaboration, which began in April, marks another step forward in MCH’s long-standing commitment to sustainable, environmentally friendly practices.

Under the new initiative, MCH collects kitchen food waste in designated totes that the City of Rochester picks up weekly. The food scraps are then transported to a local composting facility, where they are processed into nutrient-rich soil to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions associated with landfill waste.

MCH was selected for this partnership due to its strong history in food waste management. In 2019, the hospital’s Food and Nutrition Department launched a partnership with Natural Upcycling, a company that converts food scraps into renewable energy used to power a local farm. That program, which continued until 2021, laid the groundwork for future sustainability initiatives.

“Reducing food waste is at the heart of how we manage our operation,” said Jacob Letourneau, CDM, CFPP, Senior Director of Food and Nutrition at Monroe Community Hospital and Morrison Healthcare. “We analyze trends in overproduction, cooking methods, and menu planning not only to save money, but to protect our planet. Sustainability is a key value for Morrison Healthcare, our MCH administrative team, and myself.”

Previously, MCH launched a data-driven internal initiative called Waste Not, which categorizes kitchen waste into “Red Waste” (avoidable waste like overproduction) and “Green Waste” (natural, unavoidable scraps like coffee grounds or vegetable peels). This approach enables the hospital to track and quantify waste by type—wet, dry, or mixed—and identify opportunities for improvement in daily operations.

The current pilot program with the City of Rochester runs through September 30, 2025, with checkpoints at the three- and six-month marks to review waste collection data and evaluate success. MCH will submit ongoing data to support this review and help guide the future of local composting efforts.

Textile Recycling

Monroe Community Hospital's (MCH) Laundry and Linen is proud to continue its partnership with Planet Aid, a nonprofit organization committed to environmental sustainability through textile reuse and recycling.

In the first quarter of 2025, MCH donated 2,700 pounds of clothing and linens donations to help reduce textile waste in landfills and promote a circular economy by reducing waste and repurposing materials for reuse and community development programs.

MCH has collaborated with Planet Aid for more than a decade, and has donated 47,000 pounds of textiles since 2020 and nearly 20,000 pounds in 2023 and 2024 combined.