Tools and resources

Vendors of Compostable or Recyclable Food Service Ware and Bags

• Sustainable food service operations

A list of vendors of compostable or recyclable food service ware and bags.

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Sustainable Food Service Wares: An Overview

• Sustainable food service operations

The challenges with Styrofoam, how composting and recycling works with food ware, and how to select sustainable food ware.

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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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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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Healthy Interiors Goal

• Guide
• Chemicals
• Healthy interiors

Practice Greenhealth’s Healthy Interiors goal promotes public and environmental health and helps accelerate the transformation of the furnishings market to safer products.   What is Practice Greenhealth’s Healthy Interiors goal? Ensure that 30% of the annual volume of furnishings and furniture purchases (based on cost) eliminate the use of formaldehyde, perfluorinated compounds,…

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Hackensack University Medical Center: Better meat case study

• Hackensack University Medical Center
• Case Study
• Local and sustainable purchasing
• Food

Hackensack University Medical Center’s annual food and beverage budget is $5 million with an estimated $1.5 million spend on meat and poultry. They serve more than 2.8 million meals annually. In only 18 months, Hackensack University Medical Center now leads the country in achieving a 98 percent benchmark of meat and poultry raised without routine antibiotics. Leadership is driving change through…

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Antibiotic stewardship toolkit: Passing food purchasing resolutions

• Food
• Food and Beverage Purchasing

(Health Care Without Harm) Across the country, health professionals are developing resolutions calling for an end to the procurement of meat produced with the routine (non-therapeutic) use of medically important antibiotics, to preserve the efficacy of these drugs for human medicine. Health Care Without Harm has developed a toolkit of helpful resources for facilities. The toolkit includes a how-…

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Nine plus ways hospitals can provide community benefit support

• Community Benefit and Wellness
• Food Service
• Guide

There are numerous ways that hospitals can provide community benefit support for healthy food access programs. This brief outlines nine common role categories — and on-the-ground examples — that hospitals are playing in support of these programs:  Provide grant support Provide use of hospital facilities Conduct food insecurity or health screening Conduct nutrition, food, or cooking education…

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Leaner Energy: Background

• Climate and Health
• Leaner Energy

Background Data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration illustrates that buildings are responsible for almost half of the energy consumed and 38 percent of all GHG emissions in the United States. According to the EPA, inpatient health care ranks as the second largest commercial energy user after the food service industry. The US Department of Energy notes that hospital energy costs rose…

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Redefining protein: Purchasing considerations (Health Care Without Harm)

• Food
• Food and Beverage Purchasing
• Mitigation
• Purchasing

[Plant-Forward Future] Research reveals that certain dietary patterns have been noted to have the ideal composition for human health and reduced environmental impact. This guide offers procurement recommendations based on values of sustainability, nutrition, social, and animal welfare concerns. These considerations were generated based on findings detailed in "Redefining protein: Adjusting diets…

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