Environmental sustainability initiatives keep 7.7 tons of medical supplies out of landfills

Instead of languishing in a landfill, this past year more than seven tons of materials, including unnecessary and expired medical supplies, were diverted from ChristianaCare's Newark campus and then donated to groups that use them for a purpose. The efforts have also helped ChristianaCare significantly reduce its contribution to healthcare pollution.

The term “healthcare pollution” refers to the waste that hospitals produce while providing care to patients, and to hospitals' CO2 emissions. According to the White House Office of Domestic Climate Policy, the healthcare sector produces approximately 8.5% of all carbon emissions in the US.

Carbon emissions trap heat in the Earth's atmosphere and contribute to climate change. Members of ChristianaCare's Environmental Sustainability Caregiver Committee strive to find creative ways to minimize the health care system's environmental footprint.

On the Newark campus, ChristianaCare's Landfill Diversion Project and Medical Supply Donation Project are helping reduce healthcare pollution. Both initiatives were started by Environmental Sustainability Caregiver Committee co-chair Deanna Benner, MSN, APRN, WHNP. The committee plans to expand these initiatives at ChristianaCare in the near future.

“The commitment ChristianaCare has made to environmental sustainability signals a new way to deliver health care with that lens in place,” said Environmental Sustainability Caregiver Committee co-chair Greg O'Neill, MSN, APRN, AGCNS-BC .

“Until you make such a commitment, you may not even realize how big the problem is and how important the opportunities are that can make a difference.”

From the landfill and in good hands

Over the past year, ChristianaCare's Landfill Diversion Project has kept 10,530 pounds of usable items – about the weight of an ambulance – from entering the landfill.

Through the Medical Supply Donation Project, ChristianaCare has donated more than 4,500 pounds of medical supplies – about the weight of an SUV – to groups that would like to receive them.

Combined, these “green” initiatives have diverted 7.7 tons of material from landfills, helping ChristianaCare offset its impact on the environment. Reducing what ends up in landfills limits the greenhouse gases released when organic waste, including textiles and paper, decomposes.

“We have a moral obligation to be change agents because it is our obligation to protect health,” said Benner, a women's health nurse. “By combining our expertise, education and influence, we can have a truly transformative impact on healthcare, ensuring a thriving planet for generations to come.”

ChristianaCare has donated $41,000 worth of expired medical supplies to Delaware schools in the past year.

Healthcare pollution contributes to excessive heat, poor air quality and water pollution, all of which can cause illnesses that can lead to premature deaths, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The most vulnerable population groups are often most affected by these and other consequences of climate change.

“They are usually the least responsible for climate change, but they do not have the resources to recover from the effects of environmental damage,” says Benner. “At ChristianaCare we work to reduce health disparities, but climate change has the ability to undo all that good work. That is why it is so important that we address this.”

Unexpired medical supplies worth $68,500 have gone to Project CURE, a nonprofit organization that collects and distributes them to under-resourced medical centers around the world.

ChristianaCare is committed to environmental sustainability and finding ways to reduce health disparities among vulnerable populations. ChristianaCare has signed the White House Climate Pledge, committing to using 100% renewable energy by 2025 and reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 50% by 2030.

In April, ChristianaCare held its first climate and health conference to discuss climate change and potential solutions for healthcare systems. Earlier this year, ChristianaCare received an Environmental Excellence Gold Award from medical technology company Stryker for its work to reduce the environmental impact of medical waste.

Make good use of outdated materials

When Benner and ChristianaCare's volunteer sustainability team inventoried unused, unnecessary medical supplies on the Newark campus last year that were about to be thrown away, they discovered significant amounts of usable materials that may or may not have expired. Instead of allowing them to be thrown away, the team redistributes them.

Medical supplies that have not expired go to Project CURE, a nonprofit organization that collects and distributes medical supplies to under-resourced medical centers around the world. Expired medical supplies are sent to local vocational schools and nursing schools, where students use the supplies, including expired sutures, to learn and practice new skills.

“I'm thrilled that students are learning from supplies that would otherwise end up in landfills,” said Pamela Ramagano, MSN, RN, CNOR, member of ChristianaCare's Environmental Sustainability Caregiver Committee. “It is also incredibly rewarding to see supplies being loaded onto a container truck for developing countries that urgently need them.”

“We have a moral obligation to be change agents because it is our duty to protect health.” –Deanna Benner

Last year, ChristianaCare's sustainability team donated $68,500 worth of unexpired medical supplies to Project CURE and $41,000 worth of expired medical supplies to Delaware-based schools.

Benner and the sustainability team also divert the hospital's usable non-medical waste from landfills. They donate unwanted office furniture to the local Habitat for Humanity Resale Store. And through the ChristianaCare Marketplace, an online trading group, ChristianaCare employees can advertise or purchase office furniture or medical supplies that their teams no longer need for use in other parts of the organization.

“We're trying to engage every healthcare provider in this work and really make sustainability a lens of all decision-making, to reduce our impact on the environment and protect health,” Benner said.