Greening Up the Supply Chain
HDM Breaking News, July 9, 2008
Going green can save hospitals money by conserving resources while reducing waste and risk, and it can bring positive publicity for the facility, says Lara Sutherland, director of environmental purchasing consulting at Practice Greenhealth, an Arlington, Va.-based not-for-profit advocacy organization.
“Almost everything going out of the hospital as waste was originally purchased,” she notes. “Materials managers can be key players in greening the hospital by focusing on greening the products and services that come in the front door--and reducing waste costs up front.”
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Sutherland will present information and case studies on how materials managers can implement environmental purchasing practices during an educational session at the Association for Healthcare Resource & Materials Management’s 2008 Conference, July 20-23 in San Antonio.
For instance, materials management departments can press vendors, to identify “environmentally preferable products” in their catalogs and give regular reports on such purchases to their customers, Sutherland says.
The departments also can add “green” clauses to contracts, such as, “Supplier may not offer mercury-containing products through this contract unless no mercury-free alternative is available.”
“Think outside the box to go green and save money or keep costs the same,” Sutherland implores. If an office supply vendor, for instance, won’t offer recycled paper, a hospital could check if a local company or recycled paper buying cooperative offers the product at a price low enough to justify the switch.
The session, “Environmental Purchasing to Improve Performance,” is scheduled on July 21 during the conference. More information is available at ahrmm.org.
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