Hospitals take scalpel to waste as health sector's carbon footprint is double that of aviation

The healthcare sector makes up about 7 per cent of Australia's carbon footprint — twice as much as the aviation sector.Emergency departments in Australia are cutting plastic glove usage and aim to reduce unnecessary testing by a third.

"We find that 12 to 13 per cent of that comes from the hospitals themselves, from the buildings and the energy," said Professor Watts, who was also the chief sustainability officer for the UK's National Health Service . He said hospitals and clinics were starting to change how they were doing things, by "reducing the emissions of health care" while also providing "high-quality services for our patients in the face of climate change".

Brian O'Connell, an emergency doctor in Coffs Harbour and the sustainable healthcare lead for NSW Health on the mid north coast, said there were hundreds of champions of what's called sustainable ED in just his health district alone."We're starting to measure our waste streams or carbon footprint more accurately, so we know where these target hotspots are and how we can maximise impact and track progress.

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