By using this site, you agree to the Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.
Accept
Health Works CollectiveHealth Works CollectiveHealth Works Collective
  • Health
    • Mental Health
    Health
    Healthcare organizations are operating on slimmer profit margins than ever. One report in August showed that they are even lower than the beginning of the…
    Show More
    Top News
    An Expert’s Guide To Building and Improving Endurance
    June 30, 2022
    medical assistants
    What Do Medical Assistants Do On a Day to Day Basis?
    April 5, 2022
    superfoods to help with prostate health
    10 Healthy Foods That Can Help Protect Your Prostate
    August 29, 2022
    Latest News
    Why Custom Telemedicine Apps Outperform Off‑the‑Shelf Solutions
    July 20, 2025
    How Probate Planning Shapes the Future of Your Estate and Family Care
    July 17, 2025
    Beyond Nutrition: Everyday Foods That Support Whole-Body Health
    June 15, 2025
    The Wide-Ranging Benefits of Magnesium Supplements
    June 11, 2025
  • Policy and Law
    • Global Healthcare
    • Medical Ethics
    Policy and Law
    Get the latest updates about Insurance policies and Laws in the Healthcare industry for different geographical locations.
    Show More
    Top News
    pfizer and clinical data transparency
    Pfizer to Expand Clinical Trial Data Access, Takes Step Toward Transparency
    December 6, 2013
    Improving Healthcare Services And Management Through Tech Integration
    June 9, 2020
    obamacare and the uninsured
    Why Hospitals Are Still Gouging the Uninsured
    January 7, 2014
    Latest News
    How IT and Marketing Teams Can Collaborate to Protect Patient Trust
    July 17, 2025
    How Health Choices and Legal Actions Intersect After an Injury
    July 17, 2025
    How communities and healthcare providers can address slip and fall injuries with legal awareness
    July 17, 2025
    Let Your Lawyer Handle the Work Before You Pay Medical Costs
    July 6, 2025
  • Medical Innovations
  • News
  • Wellness
  • Tech
Search
© 2023 HealthWorks Collective. All Rights Reserved.
Reading: How Healthcare Workers and Administrators Can Reduce Their Facility’s Carbon Footprint
Share
Notification Show More
Font ResizerAa
Health Works CollectiveHealth Works Collective
Font ResizerAa
Search
Follow US
  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy
© 2023 HealthWorks Collective. All Rights Reserved.
Health Works Collective > Technology > How Healthcare Workers and Administrators Can Reduce Their Facility’s Carbon Footprint
Technology

How Healthcare Workers and Administrators Can Reduce Their Facility’s Carbon Footprint

Rehan Ijaz
Rehan Ijaz
Share
6 Min Read
SHARE

The environmental impact of modern-day culture has reached an unsustainable point. Individuals, governments, and corporations are all working to reduce their carbon footprint. However, some estimates suggest that 8% of greenhouse emissions in the U.S. are generated from healthcare-related activities. It’s clear that the healthcare industry needs to reduce its environmental impact. But how can healthcare workers and administrators take practical action to reduce their carbon footprint?

Reduce, reuse and recycle office material

The old adage of “reduce, reuse and recycle” is as true for the office as it is at home. Healthcare facilities use an intimidatingly large amount of office supplies in a single day. Voluminous patient records are continually and redundantly printed out. Instructions for various tasks are often printed multiple times without any real need. And this overuse extends to almost every aspect of a healthcare facility’s style of operation. 

More Read

Glucose monitoring
Glucose Monitoring Research Drives More Promises Than Answers
Bad News for Evidence-Based Medicine
CMS Announces Meaningful Use Final Rules & Stage 3 Implementation
What Types of Treatments Shrink Cancerous Tumors?
“PRECICE-A-Thon” Draws International Team of Surgeons to Rubin Institute for Advanced Orthopedics

The easiest change healthcare facilities can make is to simply switch to recycled paper. Additionally, employees should be reminded to recycle office supplies when possible. Along with this, it’s important to remind people to only print out what’s actually needed. If only one page of a patient’s history is needed, then only one page should be printed. 

Reducing waste when eating

Hospital cafeterias are often immense. And every cafeteria is filled with areas which can benefit from a more waste focused outlook. The same is even true for areas within smaller healthcare facilities. 

The first thing to consider is how much waste is generated with a single meal. People often throw away a large amount of waste every time they sit down to eat. When possible, people should try to avoid disposable eating utensils. It’s a little extra work to bring along a metal fork, knife, and spoon to work. However, this will become a habit faster than one might imagine. Of course, larger environments will often give people the opportunity to choose between plastic and metal eating utensils. In these cases, one would simply be able to choose the metal option. 

Coffee is often another source of waste in healthcare environments. The often odd and frequently shuffled hours tends to result in people drinking a lot of coffee. Now imagine just how much waste is generated when most people are using disposable cups. Simply bringing a thermos or mug to use for coffee can make a significant impact on one’s carbon footprint. On an administrative level, a simple push to remind employees of that fact can make a huge difference as well. 

Reduce meat consumption

Most healthcare facilities urge patients to reduce the amount of meat they consume. However, the people offering the advice don’t always follow it. If they did so, the overall environmental footprint of the facility would be dramatically improved. Meat requires far more work to get to one’s table than vegetables, fruits, nuts, and grains. Farmers essentially need to first grow and harvest plants before then feeding it to their livestock. Then they require significant time to grow into adulthood and eventually end up on one’s plate. 

Going vegan would make a huge difference in sidestepping that process. However, people don’t need to make such a huge change to help reduce resource consumption. Even avoiding meat for a single day can make a big difference over the course of a lifetime. Hospital administrators, in particular, should consider encouraging a meat-free day where meal plans emphasize plant based alternatives. 

Use alternate means of travel for short distances

People often forget that one doesn’t necessarily have to drive everywhere. It’s important to consider whether there’s a need to drive at all when looking at shorter routes. Very short distances are often faster when done on foot rather than in a car. And bikes are often a nice compromise when looking at slightly longer routes.

Encourage the use of electric vehicles

Healthcare workers spend a lot of time driving to and from work. It’s quite common for people in healthcare to have far more travel demands than the national average. All of this means that reducing gas consumption among healthcare workers will make a huge difference over time. One of the best ways to reduce gas expenditure is by switching to an electric vehicle. 
People are often reluctant to make the switch to electric solely out of convenience. People working in facilities that don’t offer EV charging stations are less likely to consider electric cars. Conversely, making charging stations available at a healthcare facility can help encourage people to make the change. Administrators are in a position to help push people toward a more environmentally friendly car by installing some charging stations for their workplace.

Share This Article
Facebook Copy Link Print
Share

Stay Connected

1.5kFollowersLike
4.5kFollowersFollow
2.8kFollowersPin
136kSubscribersSubscribe

Latest News

botox certification
Help Improve People’s Skin Health Via Botox Certification
Skin Specialties
July 22, 2025
Telemedicine Apps
Why Custom Telemedicine Apps Outperform Off‑the‑Shelf Solutions
Health
July 20, 2025
Grounded Healing: A Natural Ally for Sustainable Healthcare Systems
How IT and Marketing Teams Can Collaborate to Protect Patient Trust
Global Healthcare Policy & Law
July 17, 2025
paramedics in surgical gloves and masks
How Health Choices and Legal Actions Intersect After an Injury
Health care
July 16, 2025

You Might also Like

The PCMH and Home Care Data: An Interview with Melissa McCormack

December 19, 2013
Clinical Trial Recruitment
BusinesseHealthMedical DevicesSocial Media

Avoid These Top Three Mistakes in Clinical Trial Marketing

May 19, 2014
Artificial IntelligenceTechnology

4 Problems With AI For Healthcare, And How To Deal With Them

February 13, 2019
orthopedics
Hospital AdministrationOrthopaedicsSpecialtiesTechnology

5 Bits of Actionable Info from AAOS 2014 for Your Ortho Department

March 28, 2014
Subscribe
Subscribe to our newsletter to get our newest articles instantly!
Follow US
© 2008-2025 HealthWorks Collective. All Rights Reserved.
  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy
Welcome Back!

Sign in to your account

Username or Email Address
Password

Lost your password?