Hospitals and Health Care Facilities What Can They Do? The Case for Greener Management
 
Incineration is linked to serious illness and diseases, so
hospitals have a natural stake
in reducing their incineration to the bare minimum. That minimum is far less than the
21-27 million pounds of waste burned yearly at Stericycle in Haw River, NC.[1]
North Carolina heathcare facilities generated 62%
of Stericycle's waste for incineration over the past 8 years.[2]
Durham, Guilford, Wake and Orange Counties (in that order) led the state in sending medical waste for incineration.
"Far more materials are incinerated in the average medical waste incinerator
than necessary to protect the public from disease."
Source: Sustainable Hospitals
But other than burning, what else can hospitals do with their medical waste?
In a word the answer is
"plenty."
Many hospitals have already started.
Hospitals can take a "green approach" to waste management.
Such hospitals include the environment and public health in facility manangement decisions. This leads them to
shift to non-incineration technologies like autoclave, microwave, or non-hazardous chemical processes, among others.
Their procedures carefully insure
patient/staff safety issues and compliance with the many levels of rules and regulations covering
medical waste disposal. As hospitals make such changes, they often discover cost savings.
Incineration is a very expensive disposal method with ever increasing costs.
We call upon hospitals and health care facilities in NC and elsewhere to become part of
the solution, not the problem. We urge them to make a pledge to their patients and
community to be good stewards of our public health and environment by using alternatives
to incineration.
[1], [2] NC Department of Environment
and Natural Resources. Division of Waste Management. Incinerator Facility Annual Reports,
Stericycle, Inc., Haw River, 7/1/2000 - 6/30/2008.
| "What is the right thing? Simply put, it is the elimination of all incineration of medical waste not
required by law to be burned."
Martha Hamblin, GASP, at Stericyle Annual Stockholder Meeting
|
|
