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Hackensack, NJ· Hackensack Meridian Health· 781 beds

Hackensack University Medical Center

One of four Hackensack Meridian hospitals to become the first in the nation to achieve The Joint Commission's Sustainable Healthcare Certification (2024). Hackensack University Medical Center was also a 2024 Practice Greenhealth Top 25 honoree.

Joint Commission certifiedTop 25 PGH 2024Food waste leader
Sustainability report
Peer benchmark

Compare to peers

Better than peers on progress
0%
vs. 0 peers · median 0%
Better than peers on waste/bed
0%
peer median 0.0 t/bed/yr
Your progress
80%
3 stated goals

Percentiles compare this hospital against peers in the selected set. Higher is better on both metrics.

Stated commitments

Goals & progress

Joint Commission Sustainable Healthcare Certification
Target First in nation by 2024 · baseline 2023
Achieved
100% of the way to goal0 yrs remaining
Source: Hackensack Meridian Health News
Practice Greenhealth Top 25
Target Top 25 by 2024 · baseline 2022
Achieved
100% of the way to goal0 yrs remaining
Source: Practice Greenhealth
Projected impact if deployed
Contributing solutions

Directional estimate. Tons modeled from this hospital's annual waste footprint and category benchmarks (Practice Greenhealth, vendor case studies). Diminishing returns applied when multiple solutions share a category.

Lead on food waste sustainability
Target Industry leadership by 2025 · baseline 2020
Behind
80% of the way to goal0 yrs remaining
Source: HMH News
Projected impact if deployed
Current 80%Projected 84.2%
+4.2 pts
Est. 242 tons/yr of waste diverted across the matched solutions.
Contributing solutions

Directional estimate. Tons modeled from this hospital's annual waste footprint and category benchmarks (Practice Greenhealth, vendor case studies). Diminishing returns applied when multiple solutions share a category.

Vendor match

Solutions that map to these goals

Products from our solutions directory that align with this hospital's stated commitments and active projects.

Compostable supplies
BioGown compostable isolation gown
Terraloam

The first closed loop, 100% compostable medical isolation gown. Replaces single use plastic gowns with a plant based alternative collected and composted through a take back program.

Impact: 176K+ gowns diverted from landfill, 95% collection rate, Premier Innovation Award winner.
View details →
Recycling & circularity
BioDigester on site composter
Terraloam

On site aerobic digester that turns up to 220 lbs of hospital food waste and Terraloam compostable film gowns into finished compost in 24 hours closing the loop between cafeteria and clinical waste streams.

Impact: Diverts ~40 tons/yr of combined food waste and compostable PPE per unit from landfill or incineration with no off site hauling.
View details →
Recycling & circularity
GENERATIONS closed loop lab plastic recycling
BD + Envetec

On site treatment system that decontaminates and recycles polystyrene petri dishes, PET tubes, medical tubing and polypropylene syringes back into usable resin.

Impact: Pilot study confirmed recovered resin meets virgin grade specs for re manufacture into healthcare plastics.
View details →
Compostable supplies
Plastic free medication cup
Plastilose

First fully plastic free, PFAS free medication cup, made from bacterial cellulose. Naturally biodegrades in ~3 months and is ISO 10993 biocompatibility tested.

Impact: Replaces billions of single use plastic souffle cups used for med pass each year.
View details →
Food service
Plant based compostable foodservice ware
Vegware

Compostable cups, lids, cutlery and clamshells for hospital cafeterias and patient meal trays certified industrially compostable.

Impact: Replaces petroleum plastics in one of hospitals' largest non clinical waste streams.
View details →
Food service
Compostable patient meal service
World Centric

BPI certified compostable trays, bowls and utensils used by health systems including Kaiser Permanente for patient meals.

Impact: Eliminates millions of foam and PP meal containers per year at deployed systems.
View details →
Underway

Waste reduction projects

Food wasteSince 2020
Food waste diversion across HMH hospitals
Recognized as industry leading
RecyclingSince 2024
Sustainability certification program
First 4 U.S. hospitals to earn JC certification
Proof points

Case studies & pilot programs

Publicly documented programs where this hospital or its parent system reported measurable results.

Energy2023

Race to Zero hospital decarbonization plan

Hackensack Meridian joined the UN backed Race to Zero and built a network wide energy reduction roadmap covering its 18 hospitals, including LED retrofits, BAS optimization, and on site solar.

Result
First NJ health system to commit to the Race to Zero framework.
Source: Hackensack Meridian Health