EPA partners with New Hampshire organizations to reduce pharmaceutical waste from hospitals

EPA is partnering with several New Hampshire organizations to test innovative pharmaceutical waste minimization and management practices in a hospital.

March 10, 2004

2 min read

March 10, 2004 -- The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), in partnership with Health Care Without Harm, Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, H2E Champions PharmEcology Associates, New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services, and the New Hampshire Hospital Association, will test innovative pharmaceutical waste minimization and management practices in a hospital.

EPA announced the $60,000 program March 4 along with several other waste management programs.

Creative and effective procedures are needed to manage nonhazardous pharmaceuticals and hazardous pharmaceuticals that are not yet regulated to ensure environmentally safe treatment and disposal.

This approach is expected to be readily transferable to the entire healthcare sector.

Some of the other projects include: measuring the environmental and economic benefits of purchasing, operating, and recycling electronics and developing tools for smaller communities to assess risks and improve chemical emergency preparedness at chemical handling facilities.

The announcement is the first round of 2004 innovative projects totaling $297,575. The goal of these projects is to test innovative ideas to make EPA's waste programs more efficient and effective, measure and analyze the results, and then publicize the projects around the country so others can learn from the experiments.

EPA awarded the first projects totaling $524,849 to 12 pilots in 2002. In 2003, EPA funded 19 pilots for a combined total of $800,294.

Proposals for the second round of 2004 innovative projects are due to EPA by April 16. For more information, go to: http://www.epa.gov/oswer/iwg/.