How Much Do Hospitals Spend on Generated Waste?

The US healthcare systems generate significant volumes of solid waste from single-use materials daily. Consequently, improper disposal makes American hospitals spend a lot per year on waste management for the 7,000 tons produced.

In particular, the facilities have higher environmental and financial costs estimated at $7 billion to clear the landfill bins and regulated medical wastes.

Followed by the great labor expenses, standard hospitals spend $72 million on the supply chain, adding to their operating budget by 33%. The Journal of Neurosurgery reported that operating rooms averagely dispose of medical supplies for about $968 per procedure.

This wastage in a year contributes to expenses of about $3 million on medical supplies. 

COVID-19 compounded this issue because America generated higher personal protective equipment (PPE) volumes as the pandemic spread. During the pandemic surge, 23 hospitals in Northwell Health doubled their use of disposable gloves, from 250,000 to 500,000 daily.

Consequently, FEMA dispatched 1 billion and above onetime use gloves, 94.7 million N95 masks, 44.6 million surgical gloves, and 14.3 million face shields.

Most hospitals have not set up the most accurate and consistent waste management stream. The failure makes it challenging to have insights and adequate data on the sources of the problems. However, achieving sustainability and zero waste goals can reduce exorbitant costs.

At the core of the benefits will be identifying the at-fault medical supplies and proper disposal of the items. That would mean avoiding incorrect disposal of non-regulated wastes generated by composting or recycling to avoid landfill, which accounts for approximately $100,000 in discarding costs, high hauling fines, and costs per year, nearly $10,000 monthly.