Hospitals dumping €1m of milk formula: study

Milk formula for babies worth as much as €1m is being dumped down the drain in hospitals each year, according to a study.

The research estimated that between 36 and 48 tonnes of Ready To Use Breast-Milk Substitutes is discarded per year and that baby formula tends not to fall under systems already in place in hospitals that aim to reduce food waste.

The study was conducted be researchers from the University of Limerick and claimed: “Strategic problem orientation revealed that 61% of the volume of ready to use breast-milk substitutes purchased by maternity services remains unconsumed and ends up as waste.”