The healthcare industry is rife with opportunities to reduce the environmental impact it creates, with the added benefits of institutional financial gain, improved patient outcomes, better staff health and reduced turnover, and community benefit, according to a report from Practice Greenhealth and from the Institute for Innovation in Large Organizations.(1) An increasing number of healthcare institutions are endeavoring to reuse, recycle and repurpose medical supplies and devices to promote better sustainability.
“With the healthcare sector accounting for a large part of the U.S. carbon footprint – 8 percent, according to a 2009 JAMA study(2) – industry involvement in and support of sustainability efforts is no longer a question of ‘why’ or ‘when,’ but of ‘how,’” says Lars Thording, senior director of marketing and public affairs for Ascent Healthcare Solutions. “Although a commitment to sustainability is about reducing environmental impact, it is also inexorably tied to the issues of cost and quality care. These are top issues in the burgeoning reform of healthcare. A sustainability measure is not realistic and cannot be effectively implemented if it does not take into account impacts to cost and patient care.” Thording continues, “A positive sign of progress is that hospital sustainability coordinators and green teams are on the rise. They are helping to guide purchasing decisions and are formulating policies for hospital employees. But a green team isn’t enough. Nurses on the hospital floor, surgeons in the OR, administrators and suppliers are all a part of the solution.”
Healthcare professionals should be conscious of how healthcare contributes to the waste stream. “The hospital industry generates multiple types of waste that can be categorized into 10 waste streams,” explains Debra Gillmeister, MBA, a director for Stericycle’s healthcare service division. “Eighty percent are highly regulated, such as regulated medical waste (RMW), pharmaceutical waste and hazardous waste. Each of these must be properly segregated and disposed of to insure that the environment is protected and that laws and regulations are followed. Effective segregation diminishes total waste and the facilities’ carbon footprint.” Gillmeister is a former advisory board member for the American Hospital Association’s American Society for Healthcare Environmental Services.