According to the American Hospital
Association, there are more than 5,700 registered hospitals in the
United States. Thus, if individual hospitals can make small changes
that have a positive effect on the environment, then collectively,
all these small changes by individual hospitals can make a
significant impact on improving the environment. Just think of
the amount of reduced paper waste (and need for new paper) if all
hospitals printed on both sides of the paper for stuff they sent to
the...
Read More »Do you have an overall
environmental compliance plan? This should include components of
becoming sustainable. Some things you do to "go green" cost you more money.
Buying a more environmentally-friendly product sometimes may be
more costly than sticking with the less
environmentally-friendly product. Given the tough economic times,
this can become a hard decision to make. Since
organizations need to be good stewards of their money as well as
the environment, the cost of "going green" sometimes...
Read More »2009 has flown by! It's already
December and we are down to the last 31 days of the year. When
looking at your Environmental, Health and Safety Plans, have you
completed all of the necessary training that is required? By doing
the required training, you will be helping your Triple Bottom Line
(people, planet and profit). If you need help with training, call
me at 317.916.3105. We provide environmental, health and
safety training.
One can scarcely pick up an
industry journal, magazine or newspaper today without seeing an
article relating to sustainability, “green” initiatives or global
climate change. But what are the ramifications of these subjects to
business, and perhaps more importantly, what should businesses be
doing to address these topics today and in the immediate
future?
Sustainability is defined by the Sustainable Business Institute as, “the ability to meet today’s global economic, environmental and social needs...
Read More »In these difficult economic times, the last thing
organizations want to do is throw money away. With health care
facilities, that can occur in a number of ways. Let me provide
three examples of wasting a valuable resource (MONEY):
- How many times have you seen people throw items such as a Styrofoam cup into the "red bag" waste? It is much more costly to dispose of the "red bag" waste. By throwing items into the "red bags" that could have otherwise been thrown in the regular trash, you are throwing...
August Mack has a
recorded webinar available on the explaining the
inter-relationship between the environment and energy usage. It
will highlight how health care facilities can utilize the resources
of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Energy Star
program to improve their energy usage (and reduce their carbon
footprint and improve their triple bottom line). In this webinar,
you will be introduced to the multitude of resources available
through the Energy Star Web site and a brief...
Read More »August Mack has a recorded webinar
available on the impacts of sustainability on industry. The
webinar discusses what the triple bottom line, sustainable business
strategies and “green initiatives” means to your
business. Is it really worth the effort to pursue the path to
sustainability that everyone is talking about? You will be the
ultimate judge of that decision, but we will present some of the
current trends and metrics that can be tracked and what value they
may provide to your business.
Cli...
Read More »Cli...
Hospitals generate a wide variety
of waste streams...some regulated, some not. Listed below is a list
of some of the potential waste streams:
- Trash or general refuse (includes food waste)
- Recyclables
- Regulated medical waste
- Radioactive waste
- Universal waste
- Hazardous waste (regulated by the US EPA)
- Pharmaceutical waste
- "Blackbox" waste (waste that is disposed down the drain)
Do hospitals realize they can't
just throw the facility's fluorescent lamps in the trash dumpster
when they go bad? This is a...
Read More »
Sustainability is the
ability to meet today's global economic, environmental and social
needs without compromising the same opportunity for future
generations. We can all try to do our part as individuals, but many
businesses are interested in how to implement sustainability in their
business.
The opportunity for a business to improve its profitability, competitiveness and market share without compromising resources for future generations--and of course you would like to do it without spending...
Read More »The opportunity for a business to improve its profitability, competitiveness and market share without compromising resources for future generations--and of course you would like to do it without spending...
Look at the attached article about
the Stony Brook Medical Center proactively pursuing sustainable
business strategies.
Click Here to Read Article
This is a very aggressive approach to pursue sustainability solutions. I hope your facility has started thinking about changes that will help impact your triple bottom line. Are you printing on both sides of paper? Are you changing to more efficient lighting? Are you at least thinking about it? The first step is the most important in beginning the...
Read More »Click Here to Read Article
This is a very aggressive approach to pursue sustainability solutions. I hope your facility has started thinking about changes that will help impact your triple bottom line. Are you printing on both sides of paper? Are you changing to more efficient lighting? Are you at least thinking about it? The first step is the most important in beginning the...
When you hear talk about
sustainability, you probably hear something about the triple bottom line. But,
what exactly does that mean?
The triple bottom line is People, Planet, Profit. Businesses are realizing they need to take corporate social responsibility in order to stay savvy in the 21st century and protect our resources. It encourages managers to think in terms of not only the old fashioned financial bottom line, but adding the additional concepts of Social and Environmental to the...
Read More »The triple bottom line is People, Planet, Profit. Businesses are realizing they need to take corporate social responsibility in order to stay savvy in the 21st century and protect our resources. It encourages managers to think in terms of not only the old fashioned financial bottom line, but adding the additional concepts of Social and Environmental to the...
According to the American Hospital
Association, there are more than 5,700 registered hospitals in the
United States. Thus, if individual hospitals can make small changes
that have a positive effect on the environment, then collectively,
all these small changes by individual hospitals can make a
significant impact on improving the environment. Just think of
the amount of reduced paper waste (and need for new paper) if all
hospitals printed on both sides of the paper for stuff they sent to
the...
Read More »The words “energy” and “economy” seem to have been used with terms like crisis, shortage or problem all to often over the past several months. Given the state of the economy, the green movement and unpredictable energy costs, many companies in the manufacturing sector have been emphasizing the importance of saving not only money, but the environment. Larger corporations have begun “green-collar” worker training to conduct internal energy audits in order to identify cost saving opportunities.
There...
Read More »Hospitals typically have numerous
fluorescent light bulbs within their buildings. When the light
bulbs go out or are replaced, what does the facility personnel that
changed the light bulbs do with the old ones? Do they just
throw them in the trash? Unless the facility can prove that
the old bulbs do not contain hazardous constituents, they cannot
dispose of the old light bulbs in the regular trash. The facility
is required to handle them as universal waste and follow the
associated regulatory...
Read More »Triple Bottom Line may be a new
term for many of you. Refer to
Wikipedia for a more in depth discussion.
Obviously environmental components play strongly into the Triple Bottom Line. Performing an Environmental Health and Safety Audit is a good starting point to improve your Triple Bottom Line. The results of the audit will aid in the development of your Sustainable Business Strategies.
Obviously environmental components play strongly into the Triple Bottom Line. Performing an Environmental Health and Safety Audit is a good starting point to improve your Triple Bottom Line. The results of the audit will aid in the development of your Sustainable Business Strategies.
I recently had an engineer comment to me that "going green" is actually just good engineering practices. If you can make a process or product more efficient, create less waste, use less energy, etc., then you are doing good engineering. The challenge lies in doing this without an increase in the cost of the process or product. When it is all said and done, does it make economic sense? Many people are even willing to pay a slight premium knowing that they are doing what is ultimately best for the...
Read More »The LEED certified General
Services Administration building in Youngstown, Ohio is not energy
efficient enough to qualify for the Energy Star Rating. This is
becoming all to common regarding buildings that were LEED certified
through 2006. In a recent study, 53 percent of the 121 new
buildings were not energy efficient enough to qualify for the
Energy Star Rating.
The U.S. Green Building Council, who developed the the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification...
Read More »The U.S. Green Building Council, who developed the the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification...
An increasing number of
procurement directors view sustainable procurement as "Critical" or
"Important" and around 75% of firms surveyed are integrating
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) into the supply chain
bidding process according to a survey by Ecovadis.
Over 35% of the companies have instituted sustainable procurement departments. About 30% of firms allocate significant weight to CSR criteria in the grading and selection system the study found. Some additional highlights from the study...
Read More »Over 35% of the companies have instituted sustainable procurement departments. About 30% of firms allocate significant weight to CSR criteria in the grading and selection system the study found. Some additional highlights from the study...
I have mentioned the triple bottom
line in a number of blogs and also discussed sustainable business
solutions. Just last week I took a step forward in practicing what
I'm preaching. I rode the commuter express bus to work! It
personally helped with my triple bottom line. As far
as profit, it
was basically a wash. The amount I spent on bus fare ($6 round
trip) was about what I would spend in gas. But then I saved wear
and tear on my car so maybe there is a profit motive. As far as
planet,...
Read More »Hospitals generate a lot of waste!
Subsequently, they have a lot of waste to manage properly. If a
facility has the ability to not generate the waste in the first
place, then there is less to manage and less cost on disposal. How
do you eliminate or minimize the generation of waste? Can you
change a process or procedure? Let's look at a very simplistic
example to show how a process change can dramatically cut waste
generation.
Hospitals traditionally have generated a bunch of paper waste....
Read More »Hospitals traditionally have generated a bunch of paper waste....
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