45 – Healthcare Providers and Services, and Healthcare Technology

Sustainability
Category
Topic
Topic
Specification
(if available)
Explanation Reference(s) 1 Constituency
Toxins with an especially heavy impact in the health care
sector may be found in:
489 Business
Cleaners and disinfectants
Dioxin-containing byproducts
Electronic equipment
Flame retardants
Fragrance chemicals
Mercury-containing medical devices and wastes
Pesticides
Phthalates and DEHP
PVC
Health care institutions, like institutions outside the
health care sector, regularly use a surprising number of
highly toxic materials. These toxins affect patients,
hospital staff, and hospital visitors.
Plastics use and
management
Many of these toxins are defined and regulated by
federal, state and local laws. Others are used daily but
hardly regulated at all. They include carcinogens,
materials that damage the skin and organs, and materials
that corrode, irritate, or release other toxins in the
course of normal use, storage, transportation or disposal.
Plastic, a valuable material, can generate significant
positive, or negative, impacts on economy, environment
and society. Plastic should be treated as a resource and
managed judiciously.
A disclosure on management approach for plastics,
353, 367 Civil Society
Organization
Sustainability Topics for Sectors: What do stakeholders want to know?
HEALTHCARE PROVIDERS AND SERVICES, AND HEALTHCARE TECHNOLOGY
May 2013
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