There are 40 million Canadians creating garbage. In 2022, the average Canadian produced 706 kg of waste per person (1). Hospitals produce a significant amount of waste from different sources including biomedical, food, and more. In 2021,18 hospitals (including one long-term care home), produced an average 1,616 FTE and average size of 696,509 ft2 . On average, waste disposed of from these facilities consisted of 14.10% food waste (2).
Sustainable waste management demands that we be financially responsible in how we deal with our waste while doing so in a socially-acceptable and environmentally-sound manner. We need to assume responsibility for the waste we create, and help those tasked with the job of disposing of it so that the fewest resources possible are used. Embracing a circular economy: Reduce, Reuse and Recycle - in that order - is the first step to sustainably managing waste, whether at home, at work or elsewhere.
Sustainable waste management has many benefits, including:
- Lowering waste management costs
- Reducing harmful greenhouse gas emissions caused by the supply chain
- Reducing the release of pollutants that harm human health
- Saving energy
- Lowering the amount o micro-plastics entering the environment
- Conserving resources
- Reducing the demand on landfill space and waste treatment technologies
Learn with us!
Canada's health services sector is poised to become a major influencer in helping change our traditional linear extraction and waste-based consumer economy into a new, functional circular economy which supports the maximum extraction of value from every item before being systematically and judiciously reinvented and/or regenerated at end of life. The growing demands on our health care system demand nothing less!
Learn more about the circular economy and our work on this topic HERE.
Webinars
- Towards a Safe, Secure and Sustainable Reusable PPE System in Canadian Health Care
- Climate Smart Health Care Solutions: Benefits of Reuse and Repair
- Climate Smart Health Care Solutions: Reusable Elastomeric Respirators
- Green Health Care: How health care systems will adapt to new challenges by embracing circularity
- The Circular Economy Imperative: How Philips is introducing new business models to benefit health care and the environment
- Circular Economy and Health Care
Approximately one-third of the world’s food is never eaten, accounting for almost 8% of global greenhouse gas emissions. In a hospital setting an average 10-15% of waste generated is food.
Not only is this a loss of economic resources for health care organisations but it is also a waste of wider environmental resources . By reducing food waste we can reduce the need for resources used to produce food and thus reduce the emissions released in the process.
Learn more about food waste and access resources HERE.
Our Projects
This project explores and identifies reuse and reduction opportunities for hospital-generated personal protective equipment (PPE) and medical single-use plastic (mSUP) materials. Visit our project page for more information and resources: PPE-mSUP project
In 2017, Debbie Richarz, Director of Food and Environmental Services, and Max Kan, Environmental Services Supervisor and Waste Lead at Grand River’s Hospital, learned about a no-cost opportunity to partner with a third party to reduce their carbon footprint. This free program was fully customized to maximize waste diversion through the collection of single use devices (compression sleeves, laparoscopic sealers, ultrasonic scalpers, trocars, etc.) throughout the hospital.
In late summer the Grand River’s environmental service team met with their OR Team to propose the new program. Grand River quickly gained buy-in and, through a partnership with a private organisation, posters and recycling bins were placed in their soiled utility rooms, and hamper stands were positioned on patient’s floors to initiate collections. Thus began the collection of many single use devices (SUD’s) at the site to be recycled and diverted from the landfill.
By November 2017 the program had expanded through the addition of supplementary hamper stands in the OR and PACU to increase collections of compression sleeves which further added to the amount of waste being diverted on a monthly basis. These compression sleeve hampers were located in their OR and surgery rooms. SUDs are generated/collected only from OR rooms. While the hamper collection bin and recycling bins exist as two separate programs. Through this implementation GRH’s partner has collected both general waste destined for landfill and biomedical waste.
Between September 2017 - March 2018, Grand River Hospital diverted 1,302 lbs. of garbage from landfill and reduced their waste costs by $1,990 and established $1,000 in company credits towards the purchase of equipment. This equipment included repurchasing SUDs or an option to purchase other products i.e. mattresses/beds.
Engaging the stakeholders early in the process and providing in-services to the staff to answer questions and concerns was key to the success of the program, and created immediate buy-in and interest in the program. Finally, having Grand River’s partner provide a physical presence on the unit in the first week’s post-implementation was key to their success. On-going and regular follow-ups have ensured that the program remains dynamic and that collections continue to increase as they maintain commitment to being an environmentally conscious organisation.
This program demonstrated the environmental, financial, and administrative benefits of recycling single use devices.
Resources
- CASCADES - Hazardous Medical Waste Primer
- CASCADES - Hazardous Medical Waste Infographic
- WHO - Health Care Waste
- Circular Economy in Health Care
- Ortech International - Hospital Waste Audit Manual
- Solid Waste Recycling
- Perspectives on biomedical waste management: Rules, conventions and treatment technologies
- Waste Solutions
Webinars
April 24th, 2018 - Mercury, Lamps, Recycling and Retrofits
- Webinar participants were provided with tools and resources to support their efforts in reducing health care-generated waste and increasing recycling. Presenters shared emerging solutions to help drive waste reduction while assisting hospitals to gain understanding on how to improve their waste management score in the Coalition’s Green Hospital Scorecard.
- Watch the webinar HERE.
November 29th, 2018 - Managing Organics: Options, Successes Challenges
- This webinar highlights hospitals' efforts to reduce and divert food waste on-site, and how it benefits the facility. We also feature two hospitals from across Canada for direct insight on their food waste reduction and diversion experiences.
- Watch Part 1 HERE and Part 2 HERE.
- View the slides HERE.