Nearly one hundred and fifty hospitals around the United States saved over fifty-five million dollars in their budgets last year through efforts in waste recycling, waste diversion, and conservation of water and energy.

The results of this study were recently released by Practice Greenhealth, a not-for-profit group helping hospitals and healthcare practices to achieve sustainability and environmental goals in their 2012 Environmental Excellence Awards report. The report is designed to help participating hospitals and healthcare practices measure performance and define steps to attain greater levels of waste reduction. Member organizations can use the facts, figures and case studies to develop new sustainability goals and identify the strategic step required to attain them.

The total amounts Practice Greenhealth member organizations recycled resulted in 64,800 tons of material waste being diverted from landfills. This waste recycling resulted in  savings of almost $17 million dollars. In addition, almost two thousand sharps containers were recycled through a specialized reusable program designed for medical waste.

WasteCare Wants You to Remember: While their are numerous regulations for waste disposal of medial waste, hospitals can look to save money and the environment by focusing their attention on other areas. Food, paper products, energy and electric usage are all areas that can be re-designed to reduce the amount of waste disposal!