Houston Northwest Medical Center is striving to reduce carbon emissions by switching to a proactive service utilizing reusable sharps containers that prevent a significant amount of cardboard and plastic from going to the landfill each year. To achieve this goal, the hospital has implemented the Sharps Management System using Bio Systems reusable containers by Stericycle® (NASDAQ: SRCL).
“By switching to Stericycle’s Sharps Management System using Bio Systems reusable containers, we will significantly decrease our carbon footprint,” says Linda Mercier, RN, chief executive officer at Houston Northwest Medical Center. “Our hospital is committed to caring for the environment and through this service we can make a positive, long-term impact by reducing and recycling waste.”
In one year using the system, Houston Northwest Medical Center diverted 10,167 pounds of CO2 from 17,137 pounds of plastic and 1,320 pounds of cardboard kept out of the landfill. This carbon diversion is the equivalent to not burning 524 gallons of gasoline.
This evaluation was developed using a tool called the Carbon Footprint Estimator that helps U.S. hospital leaders determine the amount of plastic and cardboard containers, and resulting CO2 emissions that they keep out of the environment by switching the facility’s use of disposable sharps containers to reusable containers. Using Stericyle’s Carbon Footprint Estimator, Houston Northwest Medical Center assesses its current carbon impact and is significantly lessening its CO2 emissions.