Advocate Health Care and Cleveland Clinic Join HPRC Healthcare Facility Advisory Board

July 10, 2017 /3BL Media/  - The Healthcare Plastics Recycling Council (HPRC) is pleased to announce the appointment of Advocate Health Care and Cleveland Clinic to its Healthcare Facility Advisory Board (HFAB), a role intended to help the council set priorities and steer the agenda towards its mission of inspiring and enabling sustainable, cost-effective recycling solutions for plastic products and materials used in the delivery of healthcare. Specifically, HFAB members assist the council in identifying high-value needs and opportunities for action, share first-hand perspective and understanding of recycling barriers that exist within their facilities, and provide access to data, information and resources at the hospital level.

“With a problem as complex as healthcare plastics recycling, stakeholder input is vital,” says Peylina Chu, Director of HPRC. “Based on their recycling program experience, reputation within the industry and commitment to sustainability, both Advocate Health Care and Cleveland Clinic are perfectly positioned to provide valuable insights into the challenges of recycling within patient care settings, which will help inform HPRC activities as well as improve our tools and effectiveness.”

Advocate Health Care recently participated in a regional recycling program in the Chicago area, facilitated by HPRC and PLASTICS, that sought to connect healthcare plastic supply with demand through stakeholder coordination with hospitals, logistics providers, recyclers and end users. Cleveland Clinic participated in HPRC’s first pilot study in 2009, providing data, initial waste characterization and best practices from their clinical plastics recycling program.

“For a variety of reasons, clinical plastics recycling can be both complex and challenging,” said Katie Wickman, Sustainability Manager for Advocate Health care. “As an organization dedicated to sustainable health care, we are eager to partner with HPRC to find innovative solutions that not only support our own waste reduction goals but can help other health care organizations on their journey to sustainability as well.”

“This HFAB work aligns with Cleveland Clinic’s goal to reduce its material impact by diverting material from the landfill, which improves water and air quality and the health of our patients,” said Jon Utech, senior director for Cleveland Clinic's Office for a Healthy Environment.

“What truly impressed me about HPRC is their project-based approach to improving healthcare plastics recycling at all points along the value chain, with all of the key stakeholders involved – from manufacturers, packaging designers, recyclers and end users,” said Ilyssa Gordon, Assistant Professor of Pathology and Medical Director for Sustainability in the Robert J. Tomsich Pathology and Laboratory Medicine Institute at the Cleveland Clinic. “Working together, we are addressing the most pressing challenges of recycling plastics in our hospitals, looking both upstream and downstream, to effect positive and meaningful change in this sector.”

HPRC is currently engaged in multiple initiatives aimed at enabling recycling of healthcare plastics, including: recycling pilot study programs at select healthcare facilities, development of a how-to guide, called HospiCycle, for hospitals seeking to recycle healthcare plastics generated in their facilities, development of plastic product and packaging design guidelines to improve end-of-life recyclability, and resin testing of the technical limitations in plastics reprocessing.

Additional healthcare advisory board members include Ascension Health, Kaiser Permanente, Hackensack University Medical Center, Lehigh Valley Health Network and Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center.

About HPRC

HPRC is a private technical coalition of industry peers across healthcare, recycling and waste management industries seeking to improve recyclability of plastic products within healthcare. HPRC is made up of brand leading and globally recognized members including Baxter, BD, Cardinal Health, DuPont, Eastman Chemical Company, Johnson & Johnson, Medtronic, Nelipak Healthcare Packaging and Ravago Recycling Group. The council convenes biannually at meetings hosted by an HPRC member that regularly include stakeholder engagement events and facility tours to further learning and knowledge sharing opportunities through first-hand demonstration of best practices in sustainable product and packaging design and recycling processes. For more information, visit www.hprc.org and follow HPRC on LinkedIn.

About Advocate Health Care

Advocate Health Care is the largest health system in Illinois and one of the largest health care providers in the Midwest. A national leader in population health management, Advocate is one of the largest Accountable Care Organizations in the country. Advocate operates more than 450 sites of care and 12 hospitals, including two of the nation’s 100 Top Hospitals, the state’s largest integrated children’s network, five Level I trauma centers (the state’s highest designation in trauma care), three Level II trauma centers, one of the area’s largest home health and hospice companies and one of the region’s largest medical groups. Advocate Health Care trains more primary care physicians and residents at its four teaching hospitals than any other health system in the state. As a not-for-profit, mission-based health system affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and the United Church of Christ, Advocate contributed $686 million in charitable care and services to communities across Chicagoland and Central Illinois in 2015. Learn more at https://www.advocatehealth.com.

About Cleveland Clinic

Cleveland Clinic is a nonprofit multispecialty academic medical center that integrates clinical and hospital care with research and education. Located in Cleveland, Ohio, it was founded in 1921 by four renowned physicians with a vision of providing outstanding patient care based upon the principles of cooperation, compassion and innovation. Cleveland Clinic has pioneered many medical breakthroughs, including coronary artery bypass surgery and the first face transplant in the United States. U.S. News & World Report consistently names Cleveland Clinic as one of the nation’s best hospitals in its annual “America’s Best Hospitals” survey. Among Cleveland Clinic’s 51,000 employees are more than 3,500 full-time salaried physicians and researchers and 14,000 nurses, representing 140 medical specialties and subspecialties. Cleveland Clinic’s health system includes a 165-acre main campus near downtown Cleveland, 10 regional hospitals, more than 150 northern Ohio outpatient locations – including 18 full-service family health centers and three health and wellness centers – and locations in Weston, Fla.; Las Vegas, Nev.; Toronto, Canada; Abu Dhabi, UAE; and London, England. In 2016, there were 7.1 million outpatient visits, 161,674 hospital admissions and 207,610 surgical cases throughout Cleveland Clinic’s health system. Patients came for treatment from every state and 185 countries. Visit us at clevelandclinic.org. Follow us at twitter.com/ClevelandClinic. News and resources available at newsroom.clevelandclinic.org.