Tools and resources

Hudson Hospital & Clinic Hudson, Wisconsin: Recycling

• Waste
• Solid waste
• Recycling
• Case Study

Environmental degradation of the St. Croix River prompted community leaders of its border communities to come together to address the issue and resolve to improve river health by improving operations in their respective organizations. Hudson Hospital & Clinic successfully implemented a paper use reduction initiative and enhanced recycling program, which became a building block to ongoing…

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How-to guide: Recycling step-by-step

• Waste
• Solid waste
• Recycling
• Guide

This step-by-step guide will help a health care facility achieve a 15 percent recycling rate compared to total waste. 

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Less waste toolkit

• Less Waste
• Toolkit
• Regulated medical waste
• Hazardous and universal waste
• Construction and demolition debris
• Solid waste
• food waste
• Pharmaceutical Waste
• Reuse, donate, or sell
• Composting
• Recycling

This less waste resource provides key guidance to help with your sustainability goals and daily challenges.  Understand why it’s important to commit to reducing waste. Access step by step guidance on how to conduct a material and waste baseline. Learn from case studies of success from Partners HealthCare, Vidant Health, Inova, and other systems. Download the How to Guide, presentation with…

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Data 101 webinar series

• Webinar
• Data
• Awards
• Greenhealth Academy

The Practice Greenhealth Environmental Excellence Awards is more than an awards program – it’s an opportunity to capture data on environmental quality improvement progress within hospitals and health systems.  Data is power. It has the power to demonstrate a return on investment. It has the power to implement positive change. When submitted through Practice Greenhealth’s Environmental Excellence…

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Partners HealthCare: Filtered water

• Less Waste
• Waste
• Solid waste
• Water
• Tap water access

The adoption of a plumbed-in filtered water system into Partners HealthCare McLean Hospital, in Boston, has resulted in the elimination of plastic bottles. In the inpatient areas alone: The FY08 baseline water per patient day expense was $0.97. By FY2011, patient per day expense was reduced to $.02. Annual recurring savings estimated at $38,000 (comparing FY08 to subsequent years). The hospital…

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Vidant Health: Waste reduction case study

• Waste
• Solid waste
• Case Study

Critical access hospitals such as the 6-bed Vidant Bertie and the 49-bed Vidant Chowan in eastern North Carolina, can make significant improvements in waste reduction despite the relatively small volumes of waste they generate. By installing a recycling dumpster at Bertie and compactors at Chowan, EVS Manager Lizbeth White has seen a 34 percent decrease in cost of solid waste removal at one…

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Anne Arundel Medical Center: Construction debris

• Case Study

As a component of an application to apply for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification for a new construction project, Anne Arundel Medical Center, a regional health system headquartered in Annapolis, Md., set a goal to achieve a 50 to 75 percent diversion rate of demolition and construction debris. The medical center enrolled in our Less Waste Challenge and set a goal…

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How to reduce regulated medical waste

• Guide
• Waste
• Regulated medical waste
• Toolkit

(Less waste toolkit) Because regulated medical waste (RMW) or red bag waste can cost between five to 10 times more than solid waste, over-use of red bag waste receptacles is like throwing away dollars. Depending on current practices, hospitals have saved thousands, tens of thousands and even hundreds of thousands of dollars by addressing container over-use. If a facility generates more than 10…

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Defining waste and material streams

• Guide
• Waste

(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. 

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Less waste how-to guide

• Waste
• Medical Waste
• Regulated medical waste
• Hazardous and universal waste
• Construction and demolition debris
• Solid waste
• food waste
• Pharmaceutical Waste
• Reuse, donate, or sell
• Composting
• Recycling
• Toolkit

(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’…

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