Benefits of Recycling Medical Waste
Photo by: Andrew Baz
Collecting, recycling and reusing medical waste can avoid environmental hazards, protect natural resources and can provide economic benefits for health care facilities.
Recycling medical waste reduces consumption of raw material and reduces the volume of the waste materials that must be disposed in a landfill. Less medical waste in a landfill, will mean reduced emission of green house gasses, less burning of fossil fuels as well as less carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. So, with using resources that are already processed hospitals can protect the environment and the already strained natural resources.
In addition to the reduction of pollutants in the environments, hospitals can save a significant sum of money with recycling and re-using. "Health care facilities could save the industry between $4 billion and $7 billion by adopting greener practices" (Howell, 2011). By recycling medical waste hospitals save $5.4 billion in five years and up to $15 billion in 10 years. Those money come from the recycling centers that treat the medical waste properly and then sell it for only 40 to 60 percent of the original price. Also, those recycling companies pay money to those hospitals who provide them with medical waste that can be sterilized and re-used.
Another study showed that hospitals spend approximately $10 billion annually on waste disposal in the landfill (Howell, 2011) . Landfills charge hospitals per pound for all the medical waste they are disposing. Therefore, by recycling the volume and mass of the medical waste is significantly reduced, allowing hospitals to use saved money for better medical equipment and better patient care.
Recycling medical waste reduces consumption of raw material and reduces the volume of the waste materials that must be disposed in a landfill. Less medical waste in a landfill, will mean reduced emission of green house gasses, less burning of fossil fuels as well as less carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. So, with using resources that are already processed hospitals can protect the environment and the already strained natural resources.
In addition to the reduction of pollutants in the environments, hospitals can save a significant sum of money with recycling and re-using. "Health care facilities could save the industry between $4 billion and $7 billion by adopting greener practices" (Howell, 2011). By recycling medical waste hospitals save $5.4 billion in five years and up to $15 billion in 10 years. Those money come from the recycling centers that treat the medical waste properly and then sell it for only 40 to 60 percent of the original price. Also, those recycling companies pay money to those hospitals who provide them with medical waste that can be sterilized and re-used.
Another study showed that hospitals spend approximately $10 billion annually on waste disposal in the landfill (Howell, 2011) . Landfills charge hospitals per pound for all the medical waste they are disposing. Therefore, by recycling the volume and mass of the medical waste is significantly reduced, allowing hospitals to use saved money for better medical equipment and better patient care.