Jacobi Medical Center Moves to Reusables

From 1991 to 1997, the Jacobi Medical Center in the Bronx implemented a variety of waste management initiatives that reduced their annual waste disposal and associated purchasing costs from $1,027,000 to $582,637. During this time, the yearly tonnage the medical center discarded also fell by 850 tons, or 1.7 million pounds.

Changes in purchasing practices contributed to almost half of the tonnage reduced over the project period. Jacobi Medical Center realized sizeable savings by reducing their purchase of waste disposal supplies (such as autoclave bags, red bags, and disposable sharps containers). The cost of waste disposal supplies decreased from $210,854 a year in 1991 to $66,649 in 1997.

Jacobi Medical Center reduced the bulk of their annual waste management costs primarily by implementing a series of operational changes. Key measures included:

• Consolidating all contracts for waste disposal supplies and services with one vendor. (Prior to this, waste disposal supplies and services were administered under six different contracts.)

• Reducing the use of single-use, waste-disposal supplies, such as clear and red plastic bags and disposable sharps containers.

• Replacing disposable paper towels with hot-air dryers in a large percentage of their rest rooms in public and administrative areas.

• Implementing a reusable sharps-container service, and purchasing containers with restrictive lids for plastic medical apparatus (PMA). (In some areas, PMA containers serve as sharps containers.)

• Implementing in-service training (every six months) about recyclables, waste classification, and segregation practices. (The vendor for waste disposal and supplies provided this service in the early implementation phases of the program.)

• Auditing outgoing shipments of waste and incoming deliveries of waste-packaging supplies. (The service vendor provided this service in the beginning stages of program implementation.)

The waste management contractor assumed the initial capital costs to equip the medical center with reusable containers for plastic medical apparatus (PMA) and sharps collection, which were subsequently recovered through a negotiated hauling fee. The table below presents the equipment costs and payback schedule:

Source: NYC WasteLess Business Project findings

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