How You Can Make Your Supply Chain Greener

All kinds of institutions are now trying ways to switch to greener alternatives. With the proposed ban on plastic bags in many states, initiatives are taken to introduce distribution of wholesale reusable bags by them. More recently, hospitals are making efforts at going green. They are aiming at reducing the amount of harmful wastes that get into the environment. Not only that, they are carrying out researches to ensure that they achieve their green goals without compromising on their profitability. If you are one among them, here is some information on how you can achieve a greener supply chain.

1. Corrugated Fiberboards

Every year, hospitals use tons and tons of corrugated fiberboards that are not disposed of responsibly. They add to the solid waste of hospitals. Since they are bulky, they need more storage space and are known to raise the costs of waste disposal considerably for the health care industry. They are known to be one of those materials that can be easily recycled. Instead of trying to dispose them of all by yourself, you can give them to the distributor who is involved in collecting them for recycling from all hospitals in your area. This can be profitable for you while being eco-friendly as the distributor does not charge any additional costs for recycling. Identify alternatives to cardboard boxes if recycling is not your choice.

2. Reusable bags

Another way is to opt for reusable bags. Some of the top eco-friendly companies are involved in wide spread distribution of recyclable bags. You can use these bags to market your hospital effectively. You can get your logo imprinted on them and distribute to your customers, employees and other staff. This makes sure that you gather some goodwill from your customers as you will be displaying your corporate social responsibility. Don’t forget, you are doing your bit towards a sustainable environment. Encourage all the employees to use them as often as possible and replace them with plastic bags that are harmful to nature. Instead of the fiberboards, you can use reusable bags to fill in all the items that you would fill in the box.

3. Vendor consolidation

Instead of getting your orders delivered frequently, you can get them delivered once in large quantities. The point here is that you will be contributing towards saving non-biodegradable fuel in the process. You can consolidate all your orders into one large delivery so that the vendor can save some fuel that gets used up for frequent deliveries. Some vendors participate in programs like SmartWay Transport Partnership (conducted by EPA, Environmental Protection Agency) that are aimed at bringing innovative ways to increase environmental sustainability. Here, incentives are created that help in improving the efficiency of supply chains of freight companies.

4. Eco-friendly products

Manufacturers today produce medical products that are more natural and less expensive. Some of the biggest pharmacy companies are trying to do away with products that can cause potential threats to the environment as well as human health. Replacing the tubing and solution bags that cause harm to nature with eco-friendly materials can save millions of dollars to these companies. Hospitals can include in their policies to incorporate green practices and encourage green products. Besides practices like these, you can also reduce the use of paper by making use of e-commerce. You can order your products electronically, by doing which you will be saving tons of trees that are cut to manufacture paper. You can also include certain simple steps like incorporating ideas that can increase your energy awareness. According to BeckersHospitalReview.com, purchasing light bulbs that guarantee energy efficiency, or setting up motion sensors in different rooms with lower frequency, etc are some of the ways to raise energy awareness in your organization.