Reduce and Reuse Waste
Our goal is to reduce our waste by 5% by the end of 2013.
US hospitals collectively produce between 4-6 million tons of waste per year. Here at BIDMC we are trying to reduce our contribution to this enormous number without compromising patient safety. This means things at the medical center may look a little different than you might expect:
- The sharps containers that your used needls go in are reusable. This saves 70 tons of waste per year.
- You will see lots of people walking around carrying their own mugs instead of disposable cups. If you are planning to visit the medical center long enough to visit our cafeteria, bring your own mug with you. If you do, any coffee, tea or fountain beverage gets rung up as a small, regardless of cup size.
- If you are a patient on our inpatient floors, your unsoiled linen will get changed every other day. If it gets soiled, it will be changed immediately. This reduces the amount of soap , water, and energy used to launder and transport linen.
- If you are here for a meeting, you will be served water from a pitcher rather than bottled water
- If your waiting room has a water cooler, it will be serving filtered water rather than bottled water.
