Sharps Disposal In the News
Earth Day marked at Baptist Health System with new environmentally friendly green program
San Antonio, Tex. & Lake Forest, Ill. -- April 28, 2010 -- Baptist Health System is taking steps to diminish its environmental impact and reducing carbon emissions with reusable containers.
Each day Baptist Health System hospitals use thousands of sharp objects such as needles, syringes, scalpels and blades for patient care. As regulated medical waste, these items must be properly segregated and disposed of. In the past the objects were thrown away in containers that wound up in our landfills. Each reusable container now in use at all Baptist hospitals will save the equivalent of 600 disposable containers from later going to landfills.
“Using Stericyle’s Sharps Management Service, Baptist hospitals, with 1,753 beds, is lessening its CO2 emissions by more than 115,000 pounds annually, diverting over 194,000 pounds of plastic and 5,000 pounds of cardboard or the equivalent of not burning more than 5,000 gallons of gasoline,” said says Robert Wiles, director of physical environment at Baptist Health. “These numbers speak for themselves as to the commitment we are making to our communities,” said Wiles.
The new recycling program also increases nursing and environmental services workers’ safety because of vertical-drop containers and because containers are managed by Stericycle proactively several times a week.
“Reusable containers reduce regulated medical waste spending, reduce or eliminate the need for materials management to order, store, and distribute sharps containers and offer an approximate annual cost savings of $75,000 for Baptist Health System,” said Wiles.
About Baptist Health System:
Baptist Health System is a leading provider of health care in San Antonio and South Texas. The System includes five acute-care hospitals (Baptist Medical Center, North Central Baptist Hospital, Northeast Baptist Hospital, Southeast Baptist Hospital and St. Luke’s Baptist Hospital) which offer 1,753 licensed beds. Baptist Health System has been recognized as a Solucient 100 Top Hospitals. All five hospitals have earned Accredited Chest Pain Center designation, as well as Primary Stroke Center Certification. Medicare has designated each as Texas’ only Medicare Value Based Care Centers. The system also includes Baptist Regional Children’s Center, Baptist Cancer Center, HealthLink wellness and fitness center, Baptist M&S Imaging Centers, community health and wellness programs, ambulatory services, rehabilitation services, medical office buildings, San Antonio AirLIFE air medical transport, School of Health Professions, and other health-related services and affiliations.
About Stericycle:
Lake Forest, IL-based Stericycle (NASDAQ: SRCL) is a leader in healthcare-related services that protect people and reduce risk. With more than 430,000 customers worldwide, Stericycle has operations in North America, Europe, and Latin America. Visit www.stericycle.com.
Media Contacts:
Patti Tanner, GDC for Baptist Health, 210-884-8066
Kellee Johnson, The Ballast Group for Stericycle, 312-751-3959