By HFT Staff

Healthcare facilities managers remain under pressure to minimize the environmental impact of all aspects of their operations, from product procurement and water conservation to greenhouse gas emissions from their facilities. Now, the Healthcare Plastics Recycling Council has released a tool that managers can use to target a key component of healthcare sustainability — developing, implementing and streamlining a plastics recycling program in their facilities.  

The council has developed Hospicycle to help hospitals successfully integrate recycling practices into the patient care setting, and better understand the economic, regulatory, resourcing and infrastructure nuances that come with it. Through a step-by-step approach, the guide is intended to help hospitals navigate the process of activating a plastics recycling program from initial planning and business decisions through program implementation and improvement considerations. 

The program provides resources targeting key considerations, including: 

• common recyclable healthcare plastics 
• hospital waste characterization 
• recycling readiness assessment 
• finding a recycling partner 
• guide to making a business case for recycling.