Greening Health Care

As places of healing, hospitals have a responsibility to staff, patients, and volunteers to make sure they are not inadvertently causing harm. Unfortunately, several of the products and practices common in the industry may be contributing to disease, pollution, and global climate change.

Hospitals face several challenges unique to the healthcare industry: high energy consumption, hazardous chemical exposure, traffic and parking congestion, diverse waste streams, and a reliance on disposable products. Greening healthcare can address all of these issues in a way that creates health benefits to staff and patients while creating cost-savings to the facility.

This initiative requests health care providers to:

• Adopt Safe Cleaning Products, and
  
• Phase out products containing DEHP

Greening healthcare requires a systemic approach to chemical policy, green building policy, and creating a demand for more sustainable products in the marketplace. Because health care is such a powerful economic driver, changes within the industry can drive change nation-wide.

Learn how to start a Green Team at your facility

Learn more about Environmentally-Preferable Purchasing

Read this case study of Seattle Children's Hospital:
Spotlight On Seattle Children’s Hospital