Health Care Waste & Toxics Reduction Tips
for small and medium size health care facilities
Health care facilities of any size can implement changes to administrative practices that will improve waste reduction and resource efficiency efforts.
Reasons for Change
Many administrative services such as billing, record keeping and documentation, printing, copying, shipping and receiving generate large amounts of municipal solid waste. Recycling items such as paper, glass, aluminum cans, cardboard, plastics, computer equipment, batteries, fluorescent lamps at workstations, aerosol dust spray, batteries, fluorescent lamps at workstations, aerosol dust spray, printer and copier cartridges, wood waste and scrap metals will drastically reduce your solid waste output. Administrators plan, coordinate and supervise the functions of health care facilities and the staff. This provides them the opportunity to implement policies ensuring efficient operation and environmental excellence.
By assessing and implementing one or more of the practices described here and on the accompanying downloadable table, health care facilities can enjoy:
Opportunities for Action
Specific tips on ways sterilization/reprocessing services can reduce and prevent toxic wastes and resource inefficiencies are listed in this fact sheet’s downloadable/printable table. A sampling of these tips is listed below.
Basic Best Management Practices
Next Steps to Improve Administrative Practices
This resource guides home page has links to additional fact sheets in this series, plus other useful tools and information from the Washington State Department of Ecology and other experts.
Practice Greenhealth has environmentally preferable purchasing.information, including case studies and contract language.
See the Green Guide for Healthcare.for good facility-wide information.
Another sample environmentally preferable purchasing policy, this one in Microsoft Word.
The Responsible Purchasing Network provides procurement tools and resources designed to save money, reduce waste and improve efficiency.
The EPEAT tool will help you select electronic products based on their environmental attributes.
Energy Star has a vast array of tools and information on energy cost-saving opportunities
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This information is brought to you by the Washington Department of Ecology/Toxics Reduction Unit with assistance from the Pacific Northwest Pollution Prevention Resource Center (PPRC) . June 2010