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Nurse Claire Lane runs Save our Supplies out of a room in her family home . Picture : Supplied .
“ We ’ re at the point where we realise there ’ s a problem , but nobody knows how to fix it .
Waste not
One nurse ’ s fight to curb landfill and reuse medical waste .
By Eleanor Campbell
Fed up with the tonnes of unused medical supplies thrown out by her local hospital , theatre nurse Claire Lane devised a way to reduce landfills and give aid to those who need it .
The 33-year-old Brisbane mother collects and redistributes clean medical items gathered from 10 hospitals in her area , which are packaged and sent to community health services and then overseas .
Claire co-founded Save our Supplies ( SOS ), a non-profit charity , out of her parents ’ granny flat almost nine years ago .
“ It ’ s kind of grown on its own , which has been amazing ,” she says .
“ Hospitals started coming to me and then once I had one of the major hospitals on board it just kind of skyrocketed how much I stuff had , and it was proving the concept more and more .”
As a university student , Claire began emptying her hospital ’ s 102-litre recycling bin after every shift , retrieving mountains of usable bandages , plastic masks and gowns .
“ The week that I actually started it , we had about three total hip packs come with the table covers , gowns , syringes and hypodermics , and pretty much all the basics that you need for an operation ,” Claire says .
“ There was a little nick in the outside of the packet , so that got thrown in the bin .
“ I ’ m like , ‘ What do we do ?’ And they ’ re like , ‘ we throw it away ’, and basically , they wanted me to stop asking questions .”
Medical waste coming from hospitals , clinics and research labs is leaving a critical footprint on Australia ’ s environment .
While national data on medical wastage is limited , recent state reports estimate that NSW hospitals generate up to 52,400 tonnes of waste a year .
The increased reliance on single use plastics during COVID-19 has bred further concerns over the amount of medical rubbish being tipped into the nation ’ s landfills .
“ I think we ’ re at the point where we realise there ’ s a problem , but nobody knows how to fix it ,” said Claire .
“ It seems that the younger generation of nurses that are coming through are more sustainability focused , and I ’ ve found that everyone ’ s mindset is starting to slowly change , which is awesome .”
Nurses , doctors and other medical professionals have been at the forefront of the efforts to advance environmental sustainability within Australia ’ s health sector .
A team of healthcare workers at St Vincent ’ s in Sydney are helping turn clinical waste into plastic parts for wind turbines and roller doors , and Ambulance Victoria is working to commit to net zero carbon emissions by 2025 .
Claire , who was inspired by the 90 ’ s superhero cartoon Captain Planet , wants to help introduce a mindset shift around waste in the mainstream hospital system .
“ I ’ m trying to change the idea of things being wastage , to it being just not usable ,” she says .
“ Nobody ’ s going to budge on our health standards , but if it can be used somewhere else then you ’ re being part of the solution , not part of the problem .”
After growing her charity over the past nine years , SOS now has five volunteers who visit Claire ’ s home every Sunday to sort and itemise each collection pile .
The supplies are then sent off to charities including Rotary Australia , which helps ship the items off to developing countries such as Sri Lanka , Ethiopia , Cambodia , Fiji and the Solomon Islands .
Most recently , Save our Supplies helped stock up a local maternity clinic in Papua New Guinea .
“ I love hearing stories of where they go ,” says Claire .
“ It ’ s also my kids ’ reactions , to be honest , because they ’ re astounded and it ’ s great to teach them about these things .”
Universities in the area have also taken an interest in Claire ’ s initiative , with multiple expressing interest in including SOS in their curriculums .
“ I actually heard one of the educators telling the new grads about it a couple of months ago , and they went and showed them the bin and everything ,” she says .
“ It ’ s starting to get where new grads come in and it just is part of what we do , so they don ’ t really give it a second thought .”
While managing the charity , raising two children , and a part-time nursing job , Claire says that she aims to continue fighting for sustainability until it becomes the norm .
“ My ultimate goal is to get it in every hospital in Australia , so I want every hospital to have it as part of their workplace policy that nothing clean gets thrown away .
“ Once I ’ ve conquered Australia , I want to go to all the developed countries and just make sure this doesn ’ t happen anywhere .” ■ nursingreview . com . au | 3