Bass Coast Health (BCH) is taking part in an innovative recycling program to reduce medical waste.
BCH’s Theatre team has adopted the program offered by recycling company, Medsalv. Staff place used single-use surgical items in collection bins around the Theatres, which are collected by Medsalv and the items recycled.
The project has been driven by BCH Clinical Nurse Specialist Jessica Kitson, a sustainability advocate in the Theatre team.
“Recycling these items that would have previously gone to landfill reduces the amount of waste we produce, reduces carbon emissions and promotes better sustainability practices,” she said.
The numbers add up. With an average of 350 surgical patients per month at Wonthaggi Hospital, that’s more than 4,200 disposable intravenous tourniquets used in Theatre alone that - until now - ended up in landfill every year.
“Medsalv collection and remanufacturing processes achieve a reduction in waste of single-use devices in the healthcare system by 92.8%, diverting thousands of kilograms of waste per year,” Jessica said.
BCH is furthering its sustainability practices by recycling plastic caps from medication containers in Theatre.
These caps are collected and transformed into artworks by the Reverse Art Truck and Recycled Pen Art programs, via the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation’s Victorian branch.
From each pen sale, $1.50 is donated to the Sea Turtle Foundation, a not-for-profit non-government organisation that works to protect these endangered creatures whose lives and habitats are threatened by plastic that ends up in the oceans.