WM, Johnson & Johnson, Dupont Tackle Medical Waste Recycling

 

Rhode Island has taken a step toward requiring manufacturers to deal with the disposal of their products....The new Healthcare Plastics Recycling Council (HPRC) includes companies that represent the entire supply chain of the medical products industry, including Du Pont, Kimberly-Clark, Johnson & Johnson, and Waste Management.This collaborative effort will explore the development of more sustainable health care products, less wasteful packaging, and an increase in plastics for medical use. The companies, which also include BD Biosciences, Cardinal Health, Epi Recycling Solutions, and Hospira, will work to identify barriers to the recycling of plastics and find targeted solutions throughout the medical products supply chain...

Read more at the Triple Pundit

Shrinking the footprint of Healthcare

Only recently has the industry begun grappling with the amount of waste it generates, and one reason is that financially stressed hospitals are seeking ways to cut costs. “We’ve just seen a sea change,” said Cecilia DeLoach Lynn, director of sustainability education at Practice Greenhealth, a nonprofit group in Reston, Va., that is working to shrink the environmental footprint of health care institutions.  “Once upon a time, you had to do a lot of door-knocking to get anybody to pay attention,” Ms. DeLoach Lynn said. “These days, folks are asking us not whether or not they should be doing it, but how.” Practice Greenhealth’s members include around 1,100 hospitals and 80 companies.

Read more at the New York Times