Green Story

When it comes to industries known for producing waste, hospitals are often thought of as being directly at the forefront. And although much of the waste – specifically bio-hazardous materials – are required by law to be discarded, the sheer size of most hospitals means a lot of unnecessary waste often flies under the radar.

In 2008, Frisbie Memorial Hospital in Rochester launched its Green Team, which was given the task of helping to render the space more eco-friendly. At first, the program began with the idea of cutting costs and waste. But when the principles of the Green Team started realizing that the two could go hand-in-hand, “going green” became that much easier.

Since then, Frisbie has initiated a number of sustainability minded practices, including: reducing significantly their overall trash by recycling materials that were once simply thrown away; instituting a single-stream recycling program; switching over lighting to high efficiency LEDs; replacing all Styrofoam cups in the cafeteria with recyclable paper ones; added a macerator to their Emergency Department in which biohazard liquids are placed into the machine and then flushed (previously staff rinsed out these liquids before tossing the plastic containers in the trash); changing plastic water cups to those that are biodegradable; and recycling used batteries.

In addition, Frisbie has created their own “green store”, where materials including Velcro, tubing, furniture, and other random items throughout the hospital are stored in an easily accessible room near the cafeteria. What’s more, any of the materials are free for staff or patients to take home.

Going forward, Frisbie plans on continuing adopting unique and innovative green and waste-reduction solutions, in the process helping to set the standard for hospitals throughout the region and, it is hoped, the country as well. In particular, Frisbie is currently exploring ways to compost food waste generated by the cafeteria, most likely through an industrial composter.