April 1998

HOW ABOUT MAKING SOME BIG PLANS FOR EARTH DAY?
Earth Day, April 22nd, is fast approaching and if you’re like most of us, you haven’t had a minute to think about anything special you or your organization can do to help make the earth a more environmentally healthy place to live. Here’s an idea for you!


CONSIDER GOING MERCURY-FREE!
Did you know that New Hampshire is one of 39 states with a health advisory on the consumption of freshwater fish? New Hampshire’s advisory recommends eating no more than one meal per month for young children and women of child-bearing age and no more than one a week for everybody else. What’s the matter with New Hampshire’s fish? It’s mercury, a dangerous neurotoxin that bioaccumulates in fish and in animals that eat fish. Mercury levels in loons in New Hampshire and Maine are extremely high - the highest in the nation. Health effects on humans are well documented.

It’s not just the folks next door anymore: Until very recently, upwind polluters in the Midwest were blamed for most of the air-borne mercury raining down and concentrating in our lakes and ponds. However, a report released last February by the Northeast States and Eastern Canadian Provinces entitled Mercury Study: A Framework for Action concluded otherwise. It found that almost half of the mercury pollution in the Northeast is homegrown. In fact, more mercury is falling on the Northeast than anywhere else in the nation.

Every little bit hurts! The region’s largest single source of mercury emissions is municipal waste combustors at 45%. Utility and non-utility boilers, manufacturing, sewage sludge and medical waste incinerators and other area sources make up the remaining 55%. Of that, medical waste incinerators make up just 5% of the emissions. No big deal, right? Not necessarily! While a hospital may not be incinerating its waste on site, it’s a pretty safe bet its waste is taken to a municipal waste combustor somewhere in the Northeast.


HOW DO WE GET STARTED?
* Look for ways to reduce the amount of mercury used in our facilities. Virtually every mercury-containing product used in a hospital now has a mercury-free alternative. These products can be cost-effective when direct and indirect costs are considered. It’s important to realize that the purchase price of mercury-containing products does not include the costs of spill clean-ups, training, storage, disposal, potential risks to staff, patients and visitors, and the potential costs of non-compliance. Nor does it take into accountthe toll on the environment or the public’s health.


* Keep mercury-containing products out of the waste stream. In many cases, mercury-containing products such as fluorescent light bulbs, batteries and paints can be safely disposed of, or better yet, recycled. Check with the NH Department of Environmental Services at 271-3503 or visit their web site at www.state.nh.us/des to find out more.


* Reduce the amount of energy we use. Since mercury is released when fossil fuels are burned to generate heat or electricity, we can all benefit from taking advantage of win-win energy efficiency programs like the EPA’s Green Lights and ENERGY STAR programs, which help participants reduce air pollution and save on their utility bills.


* Find out more. For a free copy of the EPA’s publication called The Case Against Mercury: RX for Pollution Prevention, contact Debbie Augustine at 225-0900 or daugustine@nhha.org. She can also provide you with a copy of the MERC Cost of Alternatives Study and other related information.


HOSPITALS HONORED FOR THEIR ENVIRONMENTAL WORK
The Toxic Action Center in Boston has nominated the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center (DHMC) in Hanover for the New England EPA’s Environmental Merit Award for their exemplary efforts in hospital waste management. EPA New England plans to use DHMC as a waste reduction model for other New England hospitals. The award ceremony will be held at Boston’s Fanuel Hall on Earth Day, April 22nd.

WasteCap of New Hampshire will honor Concord Hospital’s (CH) Green Team with a Waste(NOT!) Challenge silver trash can award at its Environmental Excellence awards luncheon on June 11th. The award (which comes in the form of a gold, silver or bronze trash can) recognizes the efforts New Hampshire businesses have made to waste reduction. The Green Team actively encourages the hospital's 2,000 employees to recycle while continuing to look for further recycling opportunities. Way to go Green Team!


HELP LICK A STICKY PROBLEM
Guess what's slowing down the recycling movement? Post-its! More specifically, the sticky stuff on Post-it notes, postage stamps, labels and tape. When "stickies" are recycled with office paper and junk mail, they gum up the works, leaving the paper speckled with black dots, weakening it and causing tears in the giant manufactured rolls. Four out of seven giant recycling mills built since 1994 have shut down and a dozen more are operating at partial capacity. According to the American Forest and Paper Association, stickies cost the industry $650 million a year, largely in unrecyclable paper. State of the art mills designed to deal with the stickies haven't worked as well as expected. New glue formulas are currently being researched and tested. But in the meantime, don't forget to remove your sticky notes before recycling your paper.

On a related note…. Did you know that the average American uses 650 pounds of paper a year? One ton of paper from recycled pulp saves 17 trees, 3 cubic yards of landfill space, 7,000 gallons of water, 4,200 kWh (enough to heat your home for half a year) 390 gallons of oil, and prevents 60 pounds of air pollutants. Recycling one ton of newspaper saves 15 trees or 4,100 kWh or enough energy to power a TV for 31 hours.


COMING UP GREEN!
Through May 4th: Trashformations: Recycled Material in Contemporary Art and Design:
Currier Gallery of Art, Manchester. For more info, call the Currier Gallery at (603) 669-6144.

June 1 – 2: Innovations in Health Care Environmental Health & Safety, Tufts University Medical School, Boston. Don’t miss this comprehensive program for hospital professionals in administration, housekeeping, purchasing, facilities management and environmental health and safety and others interested in reducing hospital waste. Sponsored by the Massachusetts Public Health Association, Tufts University and Bristol-Myers Squibb Company. Click HERE for more details.

June 11th: New Hampshire Environmental Conference and Waste Match Fair, Center of New Hampshire Holiday Inn, Manchester. For more details, contact WasteCap at (603) 224-5388.