News, Plastics & Health - Posted on June 06, 2019

Hospitals urged to reduce plastic waste

International NGO Health Care Without Harm wants to influence hospitals to reduce plastic use and help local government units craft better policies that can also guide hospitals

Anna Mogato

Hospital equipments on a blue violet filter

WASTE PROBLEM. Hospitals also generate a lot of plastic waste, which not only harms the environment, but also costs them money. Photo from Shutterstock

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MANILA, Philippines – To help hospitals become more environment-friendly, an international nongovernmental organization has launched a toolkit which serves as a guide for auditing plastic waste. (READ: Philippine survey shows 'shocking' plastic waste)

Launched on on Tuesday, June 4, the Health Care without Harm (HCWH) toolkit also helps hospitals identify alternatives they can adopt to lessen the use of single-use plastic.

HCWH conducted plastic waste audits on 3 private hospitals in the Philippines and two hospitals in Indonesia. The Philippine hospitals are Mary Johnston Hospital, Alabang Medical Clinic, and St Paul Hospital Cavite; while the Indonesian hspitals are Universitas Gadjah Mada Academic Hospital and Syamsudin Hospital.

The toolkit will help hospitals audit their use of plastics. It also seeks to help address plastic pollution in hospitals. | @rapplerdotcom pic.twitter.com/yNkabuQgnB

— Anna Mogato (@AGAMogato) June 4, 2019

Ultimately, HCWH Asia executive director Ramon San Pascual said their goal is to influence hospitals into shifting to eco-friendly materials and help local government units (LGU) craft better policies that can also guide hospitals.

As soon as the newly-elected local officials got settled, San Pascual also said that they would be working with LGUs to review their solid waste management policies.

"We boldly say that hospitals have a huge role in...articulating the health impact and in influencing policies. This is what we want the toolkit initative to move forward to. Hopefully it will catch up to other Southeast Asian countries," he added.

Article originally published in Rappler.