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| Hospital Shuttle, Flickr by Sergev Vladimirov |
Amanda Brown--Hospitals are some of the biggest waste producers, second only to the food industry. They throw out several pounds of waste per patient each week. That's why many hospitals are looking for ways to reduce waste, recycle, and make more environmentally friendly decisions.
Take a look at these four things some hospitals are doing to go green and help the environment.
1. Combining Shuttle Services with Nearby Hospitals
Large hospitals often provide shuttle services from their parking lot to all the buildings within their hospital complex. However, they rarely ever fill up, which is a waste of gas. That's why the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston decided to combine shuttle services with four other local hospitals. Amy Lipman, the environmental sustainability coordinator said, "Now they're full and they're moving people more efficiently."
2. Reprocessing Operating Room Supplies
You may not think it, but hospitals are massive waste producers. They throw out millions of dollars in supplies each year — everything from towels and surgical gowns to cutting tools and other medical devices. This is mainly because the supplies have been contaminated in an operating room.
Researchers, from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, show that many of these supplies could easily be sterilized and reprocessed, instead of being thrown out. Only a few hospitals have started to change their ways, though.
Banner Health in Phoenix reprocessed several operating room supplies over a 12 month period and saved nearly $1.5 million. The supplies included things like pulse oximeters, compression sleeves, and open but unused devices. Reprocessing operating room supplies is one way many hospitals are starting to go green.
3. Sending Leftover Food to a Compost Pile
[caption id="attachment_19785" align="alignright" width="300"]
Compost - Flickr by Kristen Taylor[/caption]Hospital food is more appetizing than in the past, but there's still a lot of waste. That's why some hospitals are now going green by throwing leftover food and scraps into a compost pile. One hospital doing this is St. Joseph Hospital. The director of hospitality services, Mark McKenna, said, "We've been recycling since 2009, and this just seemed like the next natural step." The hospital now saves $125 per ton of food sent to the compost pile instead of the landfill.
Of course, there are some things that can't be recycled, such as prescription medications. For instance, when people don't use all the medication, it needs to be disposed of in a safe way instead of a compost pile.
4. Using "Green" Cleaning Supplies
You can count on hospitals to smell sterile, but many hospitals are switching to less abrasive disinfectants that don't leave noxious fumes in the air. These cleaning supplies are better for the environment and the patients. Harsh chemicals cause headaches and are dangerous, so hospitals are better without them. One such hospital switching to green cleaning supplies is the UCSF in San Francisco.
These are just a few of the things hospitals are doing to go green. They still have a long way to go, though. Do you have any suggestions on how hospitals can reduce waste?
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Amanda Brown is a freelance writer with a concern for the environment who focuses on ways of providing alternatives for consumers.
