The Healthcare Plastics Recycling Council (HPRC) kicked off a new project this week to identify successful strategies for recycling the multi-material flexible plastic packaging that is currently being discarded as hospital waste. In collaboration with researchers from UMass Lowell’s Plastics Engineering Department, HPRC plans to test whether commercially available compatibilizers … Read more »
Healthcare
Banfield Pet Hospital, the world’s largest general veterinary practice, reduced its carbon footprint, cut waste, and saved on hospital costs in 2017, according to their newly published CSR report.
Hospital water and sewer use is gradually declining, but that doesn’t mean hospitals are saving as much money as they are water: prices are rising, now averaging 42 cents per square foot versus 24 cents as recently as 2007, indicates a new report.
“Listen to your customers. Everybody is looking to cut costs, remove inefficiencies, and do the right thing. They’re pursuing sustainability initiatives and they have ideas.” Bob Winskowicz and Jeff Bell from the medical waste processing device company Sterilis discuss product design for the circular economy.
Medline saw a 46 percent reduction in pickups, translating into a $27,000 annual reduction in hauling charges for one compactor alone.
A partnership between Underwriters Laboratories and Greenhealth Exchange aims to help health care companies realize financial and EHS benefits by sourcing safer and healthier products and services.
As the pharmaceutical manufacturing industry grows, its waste generated grows, too — as does the market for medical waste management.
To address low recycling rates and increase the amount of healthcare plastics managed in a circular economy approach, the Healthcare Plastics Recycling Council and the Plastics Industry Association launched a multi-hospital plastics recycling project in the Chicago area.
To address a disconnect between rigorous federal hazardous waste rules and their real-world use, the EPA has proposed a Retail Strategy to help companies in the retail sector better identify and manage hazardous waste.
Medical waste — more than 5.4 tons per year for an average operating room — costs each operating room about $5,243, according to the 2015 Practice Greenhealth Sustainability Benchmark Report. A partnership between Johnson & Johnson subsidiary Ethicon, which manufacturers surgical devices and and Intermountain Healthcare is tackling this issue, … Read more »
New hazardous waste rules will limit retailers’ ability to recycle or reuse unsold consumer products and pharmaceuticals and could cost retailers millions — if not billions — annually, according to a handful of trade associations. The EPA proposed the waste management regulations in September in an attempt to protect waterways and … Read more »
The carbon divestment trend seemed to be slowing with Microsoft founder Bill Gates labeling divestment “a false solution” and universities with major endowments including Harvard and MIT resisting pressure from activists and deciding not to divest. But then last week at COP21, 350.org and Divest-Invest, two organizations coordinating the fossil … Read more »
