The Red Bokashi Foundation carried out an innovative composting project at the Carlos Van Buren Hospital, in collaboration with the Environmental Management Unit of the hospital. Thanks to the award of the National Regional Development Fund (FNDR) of the Regional Government of Valparaíso in 2023, the “Management of organic waste Carlos Van Buren Hospital” project was implemented, which gave continuity to the composting pilot project started in 2022.
The main objective of the project was to manage 30% of the organic waste generated monthly by the hospital’s Central Food Unit, that is, a total of 2 thousand kilos, through the construction and implementation of a thermocomposting system. in the upper sector of the enclosure, known as “the plateau”. However, expectations were exceeded by processing twice what was initially estimated. In addition, the initiative allowed generating environmental education for the hospital community and producing organic fertilizer for storage and use in green areas of the hospital.
Juliana Da Silva Martins, member of the Red Bokashi Foundation and project coordinator, highlighted that “In 2022, the foundation began working with the hospital, holding workshops with the boys and girls of the School Club of the healthcare center located on the plateau. Now, with the financing of the 2023 Regional Government, we were able to acquire equipment, tools and materials that have allowed us to execute this project to create composting piles and process this large volume of organic waste generated in the hospital.”
Precedent in waste management
The hospital’s Environmental Management Unit estimates that around 1.5 tons of organic waste are generated monthly from the Central Food Unit (UCA), the service in charge of preparing rations for patients, which, in the initial project proposal, was equivalent to approximately 400 kilos per month and 2 thousand kilos in total, managed using this technique. However, 4 thousand kilos were processed since the start of the project in January 2024.
The head of the Environmental Management Unit of the healthcare center, Alejandra Briones, said that the project marks a precedent in the country, the environmental engineer pointed out that “It is a precedent because there are no statistics or data on other projects of this magnitude in large hospitals, there are known projects in hospitals in the south that have larger spaces as well, in more modern hospitals where composting workshops are held, but always with other types of composting, also aimed at patients, but not something that uses the same waste from the hospital kitchen, on a large scale and in a highly complex hospital.”
In this sense, the innovative initiative, along with contributing to the improvement in the performance management of the Carlos Van Buren Hospital in relation to the guidelines provided by MINSAL, has a positive impact on the reduction of the carbon footprint, preventing waste from were disposed of in landfills, where greenhouse gases are generated.
Red Bokashi Foundation
The Red Bokashi Foundation was founded in 2022 in Valparaíso and is made up of people from different areas gathered around ecological concerns, specifically composting. They use the Bokashi technique, which is a highly efficient and positive organic waste composting technique for the environment. The organization is committed to the development of different composting techniques and their use as a socio-ecological articulator, both in its practice and in its meaning.
