The impact on life cycle carbon footprint of converting from disposable to reusable sharps containers in a large US hospital geographically distant from manufacturing and processing facilities

PeerJ
Brett McPhersonTerry Grimmond

Abstract

Sustainable purchasing can reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions at healthcare facilities (HCF). A previous study found that converting from disposable to reusable sharps containers (DSC, RSC) reduced sharps waste stream GHG by 84% but found transport distances impacted significantly on GHG outcomes and recommended further studies where transport distances are large. This case-study examines the impact on GHG of nation-wide transport distances when a large US health system converted from DSC to RSC. The study's scope was to examine life cycle GHG emissions during 12 months of facility-wide use of DSC and RSC at Loma Linda University Health (LLUH). The facility is an 1100-bed US, 5-hospital system where: the source of polymer was distant from the RSC manufacturing plant; both manufacturing plants were over 3,000 km from the HCF; and the RSC processing plant was considerably further from the HCF than was the DSC disposal plant. Using a "cradle to grave" life cycle GHG tool we calculated the annual GHG emissions of CO2, CH4 and N2O expressed in metric tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalents (MTCO2eq) for each container system. Primary energy input data was used wherever possible and region-specific energy-impact conversions were used...Continue Reading

References

Nov 12, 2009·JAMA : the Journal of the American Medical Association·Jeanette W Chung, David O Meltzer
May 26, 2012·Waste Management & Research : the Journal of the International Solid Wastes and Public Cleansing Association, ISWA·Terry Grimmond, Sandra Reiner
Jun 9, 2016·Journal of the Air & Waste Management Association·Mustafa AliNawaz Chaudhry
Jun 10, 2016·PloS One·Matthew J Eckelman, Jodi Sherman

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