Resource Recycling, Inc
November 2012
By Jake Thomas, Resource Recycling
A new study has found that hospitals could see significant savings by making their operations more environmentally friendly, including how they manage their waste and recycling.
The study was sponsored by the Healthier Hospitals Initiative and Health Care Without Harm through grants from the Commonwealth Fund and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
Each of the nine health systems and hospitals in the study documented their savings in a number of areas, including waste management, energy use reduction and changes in their operating room supply procurement. The study’s authors found that by being more environmentally-minded, the healthcare sector could save $5.4 billion over five years and $15 billion over 10 years.
The study found that nationally, hospitals could save $71 million over five years by streamlining their waste disposal processes to increase recycling, while generating less packaging, food waste and non-infectious refuse…