clinical practice
clinical practice
Nursing the planet back to health
Theatre nurse Rebecca Pascoe. Photo: Baxter Healthcare
A nurse-led recycling program is helping to reduce the waste produced in hospitals.
Rebecca Pascoe interviewed by Dallas Bastian
Nurses at Epworth Richmond are leading a hospital-wide effort to divert an estimated 12 tonnes of hospital waste from landfill each year.
Theatre nurse Rebecca Pascoe has been heading a team of staff that drives the recycling of aluminium and PVC hospital products, as part of the new sustainability program.
Pascoe said the team uses many consumables in theatres and saw that there was a lot of waste created that should be recycled.
“ I could see there was a massive gap and huge potential for us to be recycling more at Epworth Richmond,” she said.“ We just needed the resources and staff education to get started.”
Epworth HealthCare partnered with Baxter Healthcare for the sustainability program. Baxter and the Vinyl Council of Australia assist hospitals in the collection and recycling of the company’ s intravenous fluid bags, oxygen masks and oxygen tubing. This year, the program has expanded to aluminium bottles of its gas anaesthesia products.
Epworth said it expects its hospitals across Victoria will recycle about 3000 aluminium canisters each year as part of the program, as well as 80 cubic metres of PVC products, which it says is enough to fill an operating theatre.
The executive director of Epworth Richmond, Nicole Waldron, said everyone at Epworth is supportive of the theatre team and the program.
“ Opportunities for further sustainability and environmentally friendly initiatives are integral to our ongoing operational processes and, ultimately, to our continued success,” she said.
Nursing Review sat down with Pascoe to find out what goes into changing the way products are disposed of in hospital.
NR: What equipment are you targeting under this recycling initiative, and how much waste would you normally see? RP: At Epworth, we have four hospitals taking part in the program, and we are expecting to recycle about 12 tonnes of PVC a year and about 3000 aluminium gas bottles, canisters. That waste will be diverted from landfill, so it’ s great.
Where will the waste now be heading? Baxter and the Vinyl Council of Australia give us special bins with signage on it for the aluminium and for the PVC. Staff are trained on how to use them and what can and can’ t go in the bins. Then when the bins are collected, when they’ re full, the PVC is recycled and used to make garden hoses and outdoor playground matting, and the aluminium bottles are recycled into other aluminium products.
What are some of the changes staff have made under the new initiative? Our staff here at Epworth Richmond have made big changes. There’ s been a big cultural shift. The staff are now passionate about recycling and ask lots of questions about it and they’ re always thinking about what can be recycled next.
Why did you decide to spearhead the initiative? I have always been passionate about sustainability and conservation of the environment. I saw a bit of a gap here at work. I saw that there was potential for us to be recycling some of the waste we were disposing of in the general waste and clinical waste. We use a lot of consumables here in theatre, so I just wanted to put together a team and implement a system to reduce our waste and therefore reduce our carbon footprint. It’ s also good for the hospital budget, as it reduces costs for our waste management as well in some areas.
How much further could hospitals go to reduce waste? I can only speak for Epworth. I know there’ s still a lot of work to be done and many more opportunities to reduce our carbon footprint. Organisations like Baxter and the Vinyl Council are helping hospitals to reduce waste. It’ s really important that hospitals and healthcare companies do their bit, and as nurses we can be responsible and accountable for some of the waste that we produce. We can ask the question and get things started. Some hospitals have sustainability officers you can contact. You can always contact Baxter and the Vinyl Council to help start the PVC and the aluminium program. Everyone should do their part.
What advice would you give fellow nurses who wanted to see something similar happen in their hospital? A good way to start your recycling program is to get in touch with Baxter or the Vinyl Council. They can help train the nursing and hospital staff and organise the bins to be set up around the hospital. Once that program is in place, the culture of the staff starts to change and people start to ask questions about what else can be recycled. PVC and aluminium recycling is a great place to start because there are already resources in place and training to help set those things up. ■
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