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Our waste tracker tool will help you to conduct a baseline audit and track progress going forward. Utilizing this tool, you will be able to track your food waste streams, determine the monetary value of what is wasted, and identify opportunities for reducing waste.
Type: Resources
Framework for the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act
It is important to know the correct classification of all of the organization's waste, as different sets of rules will apply to the facility depending on the total amounts of each type of hazardous waste generated per year. Large quantity generators (LQGs) operate under more stringent rules and more comprehensive reporting requirements than small quantity generators (SQGs). The following information will assist healthcare organizations in determining what to count toward their hazardous waste totals.
Type: Resources
When contracting for Waste Management Services, consider the following suggested RFP questions to assess services available to your organization. This resource was created to provide purchasing guidance to support your organization's sustainability goals in waste reduction.
Type: Resources
Increased awareness around the presence of pharmaceuticals in drinking water has resulted in closer scrutiny and increased regulatory oversight of pharmaceutical waste. Evidence of feminization of fish raised a red flag and resulted in more studies, closer scrutiny, and concern for human health and the environment. The U.S. Geological Survey has done extensive work to characterize the kinds and volumes of pharmaceuticals ending up in waterways. Learn more at U.S. Geological Survey's Emerging Contaminants Project.
While hazardous pharmaceutical waste management is a headline news item at… Read More
Type: Resources
This guidance document is part 2 of our series “Protection without pollution: COVID-19 waste-reduction strategies.” These three guides will help health systems, hospitals, and other health care providers set up successful immunization programs that protect the health of people and our planet.
The world is undertaking the largest immunization campaign in history to fight COVID-19. Billions will be vaccinated in the coming years, which is generating an unprecedented amount of waste. If we plan ahead, we can minimize the impact and waste while ensuring universal immunization.
Our… Read More
Type: Resources
(Less waste toolkit) Hospitals are pouring, burying, burning and cooking garbage made up of plastics, chemicals, paper, food, needles, packaging and lots of electronic equipment. With rising waste removal fees, beach wash-ups, medical waste incinerators identified as a major source of mercury in the environment and the Associated Press’ recent investigation on pharmaceutical waste in the country’s drinking water, it’s undeniable that “away” is a rotary that loops right back to where we started. Steps hospitals take to make less “stuff” can reduce dollars thrown in the trash and help to… Read More
Type: Resources
Simply defined, a hazardous waste is a waste with properties that make it dangerous or capable of having a harmful effect on human health or the environment. Hazardous waste is generated from many sources, ranging from industrial manufacturing process wastes to batteries and may come in many forms, including liquids, solids gases, and sludges.
EPA developed a regulatory definition and process that identifies specific substances known to be hazardous and provides objective criteria for including other materials in the regulated hazardous waste universe.
Type: Resources
The main task of a regulated treatment system is to render the waste noninfectious. The technical means to disinfect medical waste has existed for a long time. Incineration was once the method of choice for dealing with medical waste, and many hospitals burned their waste on site. But it gradually became clear that, while protecting the public from infection, hospitals using onsite incinerators were exposing the public to emissions that included mercury, dioxins, and other highly toxic substances. In 1996, medical waste incinerators were listed as the largest source of dioxin and in 1997, as… Read More
Type: Resources
(Less waste toolkit) This resource breaks down different types of waste, how they are generally disposed of, costs, etc. and offers recommendations to streamline the processes, improve environmental impact, and cut costs.
Type: Resources
Join Practice Greenhealth
Practice Greenhealth is the health care sector’s go-to source for information, tools, data, resources, and expert technical support on sustainability initiatives that help hospitals and health systems meet their health, financial, and community goals.
Who We Are
Practice Greenhealth is the leading sustainable health care organization, delivering environmental solutions to more than 1,500 hospitals and health systems in the United States and Canada. Partnership opportunities include hospitals, health systems, community health organizations, NGOs, nonprofits, government, academic institutions, and the health care value chain.