MEDFORD, Ore. – An existing medical waste recycling programs is making its way to a Medford hospital.
According to Providence, the program has recycled thousands of tons of medical waste over the past 20 years. The program is made possible by a partnership between Providence and one of its medical supply companies. Upon delivery of new medical supplies to the Medford hospital, the company will collect recycled materials to transport back to Portland. Once there, the materials will be hand sorted, processed and recycled.
“Health care is very supply intensive,” Mike Geller, Providence’s Senior Manager for Environmental Stewardship says, “there’s a lot of cardboard, box board, film plastic, rigid plastic, bed pans, trays and inserts that are used. These are hard to recycle pieces that, until now, we haven’t been able to recycle in Medford.”
According to Providence, some of the materials will be turned into hard plastic before being shipped to molding companies who will then be able to create new products.
The program’s extension to Medford will allow the local hospital system to contribute to Providence’s goal to send less than 50% of waste to a landfill or incineration by 2030.
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