2026 The Pennsylvania Recycling Stewardship Award

Harrisburg, PA – The Professional Recyclers of Pennsylvania (PROP) is pleased to announce the winner of this year’s Pennsylvania Environmental Stewardship Award.  This award was created to honor the memory of one of the country’s truest innovative leaders in environmental awareness and recycled products, Dan Weisenbach.  A tireless leader all over the country, his commitment to recycling was admired by all.  It is our hope that all winners of this award will carry on their work ethic and passion for recycling, the environment, and sustainability.

The award was designed to recognize the outstanding achievements, commitment, innovation, or success of individuals, businesses, municipalities, and organizations throughout Pennsylvania in the areas of recycling, waste reduction, reuse, composting, and sustainability.

This year, PROP is pleased to announce the winner of this award is the UPMC Center for Sustainability.  

UPMC (University of Pittsburgh Medical Center) is a global, nonprofit health care system headquartered in Pennsylvania, serving millions of patients across PA, NY, and MD. UPMC is the largest employer in PA second to the Commonwealth of PA (governmental employees). UPMC has more than 40 hospitals and 800 outpatient and community-based sites. The healthcare sector has a significant environmental footprint due to the nature of the services provided. UPMC launched the Center for Sustainability in 2023 to advance systemwide environmental stewardship as a strategic priority. As part of this commitment, UPMC implemented a comprehensive recycling and waste minimization program focused on reducing landfill volumes, improving material recovery, and lowering greenhouse gas emissions across clinical and operational settings. The program focuses on workflow improvements, collaborating with vendors, staff education, identifying recycling streams, expanded reuse and recycling infrastructure, and robust data tracking. The goal is to demonstrate the importance of embedding strong processes and best practices within a complex industry like healthcare to improve environmental health while strengthening community resilience through waste minimization and recycling strategies. If healthcare can develop and implement a model that delivers measurable results in waste reduction and recycling, it creates a powerful opportunity for other industries to adapt and customize similar approaches that work for their unique operations.

Healthcare systems operate around the clock, are open every day of the year, and generate large volumes of waste. The national average is 20-25 pounds of waste each day per hospitalized patient. Think of the number of hospital beds that exist across the United States and then multiple that number by 20 pounds. A one-day volume of waste in the healthcare industry is staggering!

The types of waste generated range widely in scope from hazardous to food waste and anesthetic gas waste to recyclables. UPMC’s Center for Sustainability developed a comprehensive, systemwide approach to reducing waste in a highly complex environment. By embedding recycling and waste reduction practices into daily operations across more than 40 hospitals and numerous outpatient facilities, UPMC successfully expanded collections of distinct recyclable and reusable material streams while focusing on patient safety, regulatory compliance, and quality of care. In 2023, UPMC started tracking and measuring recyclable materials. UPMC’s first annual recycling report included 9 materials. Two years later, in 2025, UPMC has advanced to 35 categories and nearly 20 million pounds diverted in a single year. One of the most noteworthy aspects of the program is the robust data tracking that has evolved. Data is one of the core components of success. The visibility and setting of measurable goals have helped to leverage buy in from leadership to clinical staff.  UPMC back hauls recyclable materials to the 3 distribution warehouses across the state of PA. Some of the materials are baled, but we work with various vendors depending on the material. Not all the programs are free. Dollars are allocated annually to support infrastructure like bins, signage, and staff hours.

In 2024, 17 different materials were collected for recycling purposes with a volume of 4,200,000 pounds. While in 2025, 35 materials were collected and reported in the Annual Recycling report to the PROP Data Management team with a total of 6,800,000 pounds. Shredded paper was not included in the volumes of either year. (2025-13,544,165 pounds of shredded paper) The target for paper is to reduce volumes with several goals being implemented including tap and print features with badge access to track the number of pages printed, downsizing the number of printers per floor, and the conversion of electronic medical records with an emphasis on decreasing paper usage across the system. With a strong focus on strategy, 2025 will be a baseline year to track paper trends moving forward.

PROP is proud to recognize the tenacity, leadership, and success of the UPMC Center for Sustainability and congratulates them as they continue to be a leader in healthcare and sustainability!