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Planet Blue @ U-M Health

Planet Blue at U-M Health is committed to providing sustainable health outcomes for patients and the planet.

Rising temperatures, pollution, and food insecurity lead to worse health outcomes for all. At the same time, the healthcare sector contributes to a significant portion of the world’s climate footprint and produces an extraordinary amount of wastes, while providing life-saving care on a daily basis. U-M Health/Michigan Medicine believes that environmentally sustainable practices are essential to protect the health and longevity of patients, the community, and the planet.

Ongoing U-M climate action efforts and carbon neutrality goals encompass U-M Health and the Medical School. The Planet Blue at U-M Health program, formerly called the Environmental Sustainability & Carbon Neutrality program, is actively expanding its efforts, particularly in the areas of building standards, waste reduction, recycling, energy conservation, virtual care, and green anesthesia, among others.

Initiatives

  • Leadership in healthcare

    For 20 consecutive years, U-M Health has earned recognition from Practice Greenhealth as a sustainable healthcare organization. In 2024, U-M Health honors included Circles of Excellence Awards for leadership and Greening in the OR, and a Greenhealth Emerald Award in recognition of the system's continuous commitment to sustainability, resilience and culture.

  • Green anesthesia

    Anesthesia services release greenhouse gases and ozone-depleting agents into the atmosphere. Since March 2022, U-M Health's Green Anesthesia Initiative (GAIA) has worked to remove and reduce harmful anesthetic materials in pursuit of an 80% reduction in inhaled anesthetic greenhouse gas emissions within three years. The program exceeded this goal, reducing emissions by 88% in less than two years, without compromising patient safety.

  • Medical plastics recycling

    Approximately 25% of all hospital waste is plastic. In partnership with DuPont, U-M Health is implementing an initiative targeting "blue wrap" — used to package surgical items — and other non-contaminated medical plastics to divert waste from the landfill.

  • Sharps container reuse

    U-M Health is replacing single-use "sharps" containers with reusable collector bins, which are sanitized and then reused. One reusable container can eliminate 500 single-use containers — saving more than 75 tons of plastic from being thrown away. The new containers feature a design that limits employee harm.

  • Waste reduction

    U-M Health aims to eliminate approximately 3.6 million Styrofoam cups and 2.6 million lids through a new initiative. In addition to a robust materials recycling program (1,554 tons in 2022), U-M Health continues to expand programs in food composting, medical plastics recycling, and sharps container redesign and reuse.

  • Virtual care & planetary health

    Since U-M Health introduced virtual care services in 2017, nearly 100 million miles of driving have been avoided, in turn avoiding nearly 38,000 metric tons of GHGs being emitted into the atmosphere.

  • LEED Platinum certification

    The D. Dan and Betty Kahn Health Care Pavilion is on track to be a LEED v4 platinum-certified healthcare facility, the largest facility of its kind in North America. The facility is set to open in fall 2025.