Hospitals for a Healthy Environment

The H2E is a voluntary program designed to help health care facilities enhance work place safety, reduce waste and waste disposal costs and become better environmental stewards and neighbors. The primary goal of the H2E effort is to educate health care professionals about pollution prevention opportunities in hospitals and health care systems. Through activities, such as the development of best practices, model plans for total waste management, resource directories, and case studies, the project hopes to provide hospitals and health care systems with enhanced tools for minimizing the volumes of waste generated and the use of persistent, bioaccumulative, and toxic chemicals. Such reductions are beneficial to the environment and health of our communities. Furthermore, improved waste management practices will reduce the waste disposal costs incurred by the health care industry.

Specific goals of this program include:
- Virtually eliminating mercury-containing waste from health care facilities' waste streams by 2005
- Reducing the overall volume of waste (both regulated and non-regulated waste) by 33 percent by 2005 and by 50 percent by 2010
- Identifying hazardous substances for pollution prevention and waste reduction opportunities, including hazardous chemicals and persistent, bioaccumulative, and toxic pollutants

As of March 28, 2006, the Hospitals for a Healthy Environment program has 1,162 partners representing 6,379 facilities: 1,316 hospitals, 3,088 clinics, 1,015 nursing homes and 960 other types of facilities. These partners are health care facilities that have pledged to eliminate mercury and reduce waste consistent with the overall goals of H2E.