Overview:
Stony Brook Medicine is committed to supporting sustainability efforts and reducing our carbon footprint, including by reducing our waste. Our sustainability programs not only benefit our planet, but also our employees and communities.
Goals 2025:
- Reinstitute annual RecycleMania events during 2025 to drive up awareness of recycling and actual recycling measures
- Continue efforts to drive down red bag waste by an additional 5% over CY 2024
- Reduce sharps waste by 5% over baseline by conducting waste audits, focusing on educational efforts and changing the physical environment
- Reduce the use of desk-side trash container liners by 50% through educational programming and modification of the physical environment
- Quantify the reduction of xylene waste from the new histopathology processors; continue capital program to replace the units
- Assess potential to further reduce HFA inhaler use (primarily albuterol) by converting to dry powder inhalers
Highlights:
SBUH has decreased its total pounds of waste per patient day to 34 pounds in CY2024. The median report from Practice Greenhealth participants is 42 pounds per patient day, with values ranging from 27 to 96 pounds.
SBUH has reduced the regulated medical waste, by improving employee education on the appropriate disposal of various types of waste, and by working to make the environment more supportive of correct choices. Regulated medical waste is expensive in both disposal costs and environmental impact. The median value of Practice Greenhealth reporting hospitals was 2.6 pounds, with values generally ranging from 1.2 to 6.6 pounds.
Stony Brook University Hospital continues to consider general, medical, and chemical) waste implications of its activities through scrutiny of capital purchases and review of all new products by the Product Management Committee. This committee expressly discusses the avoidance of chemicals of concern and each product’s life cycle value. Reusable products are preferentially considered. SBUH also periodically considers its process to find ways to minimize waste and chemicals of concern (e.g., examining fresh specimens when possible and avoiding fixative chemicals).
Chemical waste streams are periodically re-evaluated by Environmental Health and Safety and the hospital’s hazardous waste vendor. We select disposal options that may have lesser environmental impact. For example, as an alternative to incineration, our laboratory xylene and alcohol waste was used for energy recovery (specifically, fuel blending), which means it is used as a fuel for industrial processes.
The Plant Operation department uses low volatile organic compound (VOC) latex paint in the hospital. The Cabinet Shop uses low VOC adhesives and sustainable plywood and medium density fiberboard, when constructing furniture. Our construction group now employs reusable construction barrier walls to avoid waste.
SBUH recycled more than 756 tons of materials in CY2024. Recycled materials include paper, metals, batteries, electronics, ink jet and toner, and oils.
Our pharmacy continues to reduce waste through use of dose standardization and dose-rounding. It also reviews its use of paper and other resources.
Team Leaders:
Nikki Hamblin, Ellen O'Hare, Jeannene Strianse, Martha Houlihan and Paul Ryan
Policies:
EC0069 Hospital Recycling and Sustainability
EC0040 Reusable Hospital Surplus Property
MM0084 Pharmaceutical Waste Management
