There are many challenges when it comes to moving from talk about sustainability to action, but moving toward sustainability is necessary for survival, as global demand increases for scarce resources and as healthcare facilities experience declining operating margins, according to an article on the FacilityCare website.

Developing waste reduction strategies is a good place to start. But reducing waste volumes and disposal costs requires knowledge and capabilities that often are not found within healthcare facilities. Evaluating waste generation, segregation and reduction requires data analysis across the numerous waste categories, as well as benchmarking historical volumes and costs and a tracking and reporting capability to monitor progress against baselines, the article said.

Sustainability needs advocates and resources to get a program running. Many hospitals have created sustainability management system coordinators and are using the programs developed at partners, such as American Hospital Association’s Sustainable Roadmaps and Practice Green Health. 

Read the article.