Sustainability Management
We at Adventist Health – Portland believe in being good stewards of the world God has created for us. We honor God's creation by reusing and recycling our material resources and protecting our community from hazardous waste.
Systemwide Recycling
In addition to recycling programs in our clinics, Adventist Medical Center each year recycles:
- More than 180,000 pounds of paper—that’s about the same weight as 95 VW Bugs
- More than 131,000 pounds of cardboard—the combined weight of about 524 average refrigerators
We also recycle cans, glass/plastic bottles, glass, florescent lights, batteries, electronics, kitchen oil and metal.
On-Site Processing of Medical Waste and Sharps Containers
We started using a closed-system medical waste disposal process in August 2011. Thanks to this, more than 282,000 pounds of medical waste is collected each year.
These harmful materials are shredded, sanitized and processed right on our main hospital campus in southeast Portland. This system offers a 90 percent reduction in the volume and 15 percent reduction in weight of our processed waste.
At the end of this process, our medical waste is sterile and nonhazardous.
The closed system means:
- No harmful emissions
- No toxic chemicals to store, treat, or discard
- No offensive odors
- No bio-hazardous or infectious water discharged into sewer system
- No "infectious medical waste discoveries" on streets or beaches
On-site sterilization eliminates:
- Transporting of infectious medical waste through the community
- Need for landfill site and zoning hearings
- Concern about further infection caused by extensive hauling and handling