Sustainability in the hotel industry
In the kitchens, we are working to reduce food waste and replace disposable crockery with reusable crockery. We use set-up waste to produce green electricity.
Reusable instead of disposable tableware
The USZ is committed to reducing the waste generated by disposable tableware in the hotel industry. To this end, the Hotels division works with its partner reCIRCLE, which offers reusable tableware.
Between November 2020 and June 2023, 28,000 reCIRCLE boxes were filled at the USZ. With this amount, the hotel industry was able to avoid around 1,400 kg of disposable tableware, which meant that over 310 fewer 60-liter bags of waste had to be disposed of.
Less food waste
In order to commit to reducing food waste, the USZ has been a member of the “United Against Waste” association since 2018. Since the beginning of 2023, the hotel industry has also been working with the company Kitro. Kitro is a solution that uses artificial intelligence to measure how much food waste from which category is produced in the kitchen – for example vegetables or meat. The data collected forms the basis on which the hotel industry aims to further reduce its food waste.
Green electricity from kitchen waste
The USZ collects kitchen waste and food that has not been consumed by employees or patients In 2024, this amounted to around 21 tons of biomass. Recycling Energie AG uses this to produce green electricity in its biogas plant. In 2024, this generated 70,000 kWh of green electricity, which corresponds to the average electricity consumption of around 13 single-family homes over the course of a year.
Promotion of plant-based nutrition
As part of the Exemplary Energy and Climate initiative, the USZ has set itself the goal of continuously reducing meat consumption in the catering of patients and employees. Compared to the reference years 2018 / 2019, a reduction of 23% is targeted by 2026 and 30% by 2030.
