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Know where to throw
21/11/05
Tauranga Hospital hopes to save around $30,000 a year by introducing new waste disposal and collection methods.
Waste user group project owner Averil Boon says sessions for staff will be held throughout the hospital and will focus on encouraging segregation of waste into the correct waste streams in a bid to reduce the volume of clinical waste by between 50-70 per cent.
“Staff are disposing of items such as gowns, gloves, nappies in the clinical waste bins,” Averil says. “The DHB pays $1140 a tonne for this to be disposed, compared to $230 for general waste, so we expect savings to be quite substantial.”
The hospital has switched to plastic rubbish sacks which accommodate wet waste. It has also bought new rubbish trolleys. The previous trolleys had no sides and were too wide for many of the hospital corridors. The decision to implement the new waste disposal and collection measures came after recommendations by the user group and a trial in ward 5.
Averil says the education sessions will be taken by waste user group members Alan Upson and Adrienne Stewart.
“We want to make staff aware of where waste goes and how much money will be saved if it is disposed of correctly,” Averil says. “I am sure we’ll get a positive response, especially when people realise that the changes are very easy to make.”
Waste not
15/03/05
Tauranga Hospital can make substantial waste disposal savings if changes are made in the way rubbish is sorted and disposed, the waste user group says.
Project Owner Averil Boon says significant savings in the cost of waste management can be achieved by:
- Better segregation of waste into the correct waste streams, which will reduce the volume of clinical waste
- Coordination and management of waste disposal systems and processes
- Expanding recycling options throughout the DHB to include paper recycling, printer cartridges and printer drums
- Staff education
- The implementation of an environmental policy, currently being developed by Quality and Risk.
Averil says that for safety reasons it is vital that clinical and domestic waste are not mixed but it is also important for cost control reasons that domestic waste is not mixed in with clinical waste and disposed of in a much more expensive way than is necessary .
The user group decided to look closely at the amount of waste classified as clinical waste during a six-week recycling trial in ward 5. During the trial, two 240L bins were placed in the sluice room, one for bottles and cans and the other for cardboard and paper. In addition, two similarly labelled boxes were placed in seven locations throughout the ward. The clinical waste bin in the sluice room was reduced in size from 240L to 60L.
Wet waste was placed into white plastic bags. The procedure for disposing of sharps remained the same. During the trail there was an 80 per cent reduction in the amount of clinical waste produced. Much of this decrease came from staff using the wet waste bag for items such as nappies and web blueys.
Averil says if segregation of domestic waste from clinical waste is to be improved, the appropriate policies must be introduced and staff training provided. Waste management should be a priority for the organisation.
“Managed badly, infection and other safety issues can affect the health of patients, staff and the environment,” she says.
Waste is collected three times a day, both outside and inside the hospital and disposed of by several separate contractors.
Twenty years ago most hospital waste was disposed of in the hospital’s own incinerator. Now there is a single national incinerator and the likelihood of all clinical waste being disposed offshore in the future.
Other user group recommendations include:
- switching to plastic rubbish sacks for all general waste
- using environmentally sound items
- encouraging the use of reusable products, instead of disposable products
- discouraging the use of polystyrene, which is not biodegradable
- a service lift specifically for transporting waste
- the appointment of a hospital waste co-ordinator
- retiring the ancient hospital shredder and outsourcing the destruction of sensitive documents