Hospitals boost recycling, savings

Going green saved eight area hospitals $600,000 over two years, according to the Health Care Improvement Foundation, a nonprofit organization that facilitated a pilot project to improve environmental procedures in hospitals.

Twenty hospitals participated but only eight answered surveys this summer about their results.

At the beginning of the study period in 2007, the hospitals were recycling 13 percent of their waste. At the end, they were recycling 34 percent.

Medical waste, which must be incinerated, fell from 3.2 million to 2 million pounds per year.

Much of the improvement stemmed from better employee education and making it easier for employees to dispose of infectious and non-infectious waste separately, said Kate Flynn, president of the foundation.    - Stacey Burling