VOL. X NO. 3
jul-sep 2014
Medical Waste Management Serving Healthcare Facility Waste Management Professionals
Photo courtesy of Emory University Hospital
www.medicalwastemanagementnews.com
Attention Readers !
Are you looking for Products, Equipment or Services for your business or healthcare facility? If so, please check out these leading companies advertised in this issue:
Infectious & Non-Infectious Waste Containers & Linen Carts Bomac Carts – pg 10 Rehrig Healthcare Systems – pg 5 Snyder Industries Inc – pg 6 TQ Industries – pg 6 Infectious Waste Sterilizing Systems Bondtech Corporation – pg 9 Clean Waste Systems – pg 16 The Mark-Costello Co – pg 11 Ozonator Industries – pg 2 STI Biosafe – pg 8 Liquid Disposal Systems Bemis Health Care – pg 10 Room Disinfection Systems Xenex – pg 7 Shredders Shred-Tech – pg 6 Vecoplan LLC – pg 9 WEIMA America – pg 8
Operating Rooms Go Green at Two Atlanta Hospitals
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By P.J. Heller
elly Weisinger says that most hospital patients have little clue about the tremendous amount of waste that is generated during their stay. “They don’t necessarily think about it,” she says. “They have a lot on their minds when they are here and might only see their little impact and not the big picture.” Weisinger admits that until recently, she, too, wasn’t aware of the vast quantities of regulated medical waste and other materials that come out of a medical facility and eventually end up in landfills. “It’s a huge eye-opener,” says Weisinger, program coordinator for Emory University’s Office of Sustainability Initiatives. “Unless you are a healthcare practitioner or somebody working in a healthcare facility you really have no idea how much waste there is and how many materials are required for each procedure,” says Weisinger, who joined Emory nearly three years ago. “The focus is on patient care and outcome and everything else is secondary to that, which is the way it should be. But more and more I think healthcare practitioners and staff members are becoming aware of what they’re doing and how they could be doing things a little differently for the benefit of their employer, for the benefit of public health and for the benefit of the environment.” At Emory University Hospital and Emory University Hospital Midtown — part of the Emory Healthcare network of six hospitals and
clinics in the Atlanta area which make up the largest healthcare system in Georgia — efforts are underway to reduce, reuse and recycle. It’s all part of a goal to divert landfill waste by 65 percent across all of Emory University by 2015 through sophisticated recycling and composting programs. The latest sustainability efforts are at Emory University Hospital (EUH) and Emory University Hospital Midtown (EUHM), where a new recycling program has been launched in the operating rooms. “Operating rooms create a tremendous volume of waste,” notes Dr. Jane Duggan, assistant professor of anesthesiology and lead of the OR green team at EUHM. “Much of it is clean waste and can be recycled. Healthcare sustainability is critical, and by diverting waste from landfills, we expect to take huge strides forward in greening our campus.” Duggan had little trouble implementing the program at EUHM, a 511-bed acute care teaching hospital. “There was a groundswell of interest among the staff who saw the virtues of recycling that prompted these efforts,” she says. Duggan and Weisinger both agree that hospitals looking to implement a recycling program need to have physicians lead the effort. “One critical item is to identify a core of dedicated people in each area of the hospital who are committed to recycling and patiently willing to lead,” Duggan advises. “You need Continued on page 3