- Year-one findings revealed that approximately 75–85% of waste audited was misclassified, resulting in higher emissions and costs; improved sorting could reduce related emissions by nearly 70%.
- Boston Medical Center publishes report and how-to guide to help more medical facilities leverage findings to reduce waste, emissions and deliver cost savings.
- Collaboration identifies solutions that could reduce up to 20% of Boston Medical Center’s waste-related greenhouse gas emissions and provide opportunities for cost savings.
BOSTON, Massachusetts, April, 7, 2026 - Boston Medical Center (BMC) announced year-one progress from its three-year collaboration with Takeda to identify solutions that can reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions hotspots in the healthcare sector, addressing the fundamental link between planetary and human health. The year-one report demonstrates potential opportunities for emissions reduction, driven by three key factors: waste disposal method, waste volume, and packaging material type.
Climate change poses a growing threat to human health and the healthcare sector accounts for approximately 8.5% of total U.S. greenhouse gas emissions, according to a 2022 report by The Commonwealth Fund. While there is a clear path to reducing emissions from some sources, there are some emissions hotspots, like medical waste, with no viable solutions today. Medical waste presents a particularly complex challenge because it spans the value chain, making collaboration across organizations critical to identifying interventions.
In the first year of the collaboration, BMC conducted three waste audits across key clinical areas to identify opportunities for near-term interventions and longer-term solutions. The waste audit revealed that 75% of regulated medical waste (RMW) was missorted and could have been disposed of in recycling or municipal solid waste streams. Proper sorting could reduce waste-related greenhouse gas emissions by up to 69%. Although RMW represents only 4% of BMC's total waste by weight, it accounts for 30% of waste-related emissions. Improving RMW sorting alone presents an opportunity to reduce BMC's overall waste-related emissions by up to 20%, while also generating cost savings.
The audits conducted by BMC also identified opportunities to improve pharmaceutical product packaging design by reducing material weight or advancing recyclability of key materials, such as intravenous (IV) bags and plastic medication bottles.
BMC has released a report and accompanying how-to guide with insights designed to help other healthcare institutions replicate a waste audit, build on these findings, and take effective action to reduce emissions and costs, improving the health and well-being of their communities. Sharing the results so others can build on them is an important aspect of this collaboration, helping to accelerate change in the healthcare ecosystem.
"As an essential hospital, BMC sees the impact climate stress has on patients and our work with Takeda is helping to advance our commitment to health equity and environmental sustainability," said Alastair Bell, MD, President & CEO of BMC Health System. "By rigorously examining our waste streams and identifying practical, data-driven opportunities for improvement, we are demonstrating that healthcare institutions can reduce environmental impact while maintaining the highest standards of patient care. This collaboration is also enabling us to identify solutions with the potential to reduce emissions and cost savings, which can be further reinvested into patient care."
Launched in 2025, this effort combines BMC’s operational and clinical insight with Takeda’s global scale and pharmaceutical packaging expertise, with the potential to identify, pilot, and share innovative solutions that could reduce emissions, lower costs, and address the link between planetary and human and health.
"There is an intrinsic link between human and planetary health," said Teresa Bitetti, president of Takeda's global oncology business unit. "Addressing the healthcare sector's most pressing environmental challenges requires bold collaboration. We are proud to work with Boston Medical Center, a partner that shares our commitment to advancing environmental sustainability, improving patient health, and innovating across the healthcare ecosystem."
The early results have already inspired a BMC initiative to enhance waste management practices, engaging and educating staff, standardizing bins and signage and tracking performance over time. Savings generated through these efforts are planned to be reinvested into further enhancing environmental sustainability and care for patients and communities.
Over the next two years, BMC will focus on developing data-driven pilot programs to test and refine innovative approaches to reducing emissions from medical waste. The second year of the effort will focus on solution development, followed by the piloting of interventions in the third year. By engaging a broad range of stakeholders, including clinicians, operational leaders and industry partners, the BMC and Takeda collaboration aims to develop solutions that can be replicated and scaled to promote decarbonization across the broader healthcare ecosystem.
About Boston Medical Center
Boston Medical Center models a new kind of excellence in healthcare, where innovative and equitable care empowers all patients to thrive. We combine world-class clinicians and cutting-edge treatments with compassionate, quality care that extends beyond our walls. As an award-winning health equity leader, our diverse clinicians and staff interrogate racial disparities in care and partner with our community to dismantle systemic inequities. And as a national leader in research and the teaching affiliate for Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine, we’re driving the future of care.