Plastic Rich Environments: Tapping into Hospital Recycling

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Plastic Rich Environments Tapping into Hospital
Recycling
Melissa Vargas-CIWMB California Resource Recovery
Association August 6, 2008
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Selecting Your Objective

• To identify existing recycling programs within
  the hospital.
• To identify potential areas within the hospital
  that could benefit from a recycling program that
  will reduce potential disposal costs as well as
  increase recycling.

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The Starting Point Making The Right Connections

• Local Government
• California Integrated Waste Management
  Board-Local Assistance Market Development Rep.
• Your Hauler/Recycler
• Hospital Representative
• Non-Profit Organizations

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Waste Assessments

• Customize your waste assessment to maximize
  benefits for the hospital, local government and
  the environment.

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Example Of The CIWMBs Waste Assessment
Questionnaire
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Targeting Plastic Material For Recycling

• Pick your plastic and hospital department
• 19 of waste stream is in surgical services
  currently going to red bag or general trash
• Tapping into the surgical services areas to
  maximize initial plastic recycling.

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What Is Blue Wrap?

• Blue Wrap is made from polypropylene
• Recycle Number 5
• Blue wrap is used for wrapping surgical
  instruments for sterilization.
• Generated and used in only a few areas.
• Sterile, uncontaminated material that can be
  diverted.

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Options For Hospitals To Minimize Waste Generated
From Blue Wrap

• Switch to surgical cases
• Switch to fabric
• Recycle the blue wrap

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Recycling Blue Wrap

• Work with hauler
• Recyclers
• Janitorial/Hospital supply companies
• Confidential document shredding companies

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Baled, Shipped and Sold!

• CIWMB continues to work with various
  manufacturers to promote domestic markets.
• Some material is currently brokered for
  International uses, however more domestic
  manufacturers are expressing interest in using
  the blue wrap as part of their feedstock for
  various products that range from pellets,
  railroad ties, pallets and more.

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Example of Blue Wrap Recycling Programs-Mills

• Mills-Peninsula Health Services (MPHS) in
  Burlingame made a switch in Central Sterile
  Processing to using hard cases instead of Blue
  Wrap for containing instruments and supplies for
  sterilization prior to use in surgery.
• According to the Sutter Health Contracts Office,
  Peninsula Medical Center used an estimated 14,475
  pounds of Blue Wrap during 2006 at a cost of
  35,962. MPHS spent 34,987 to purchase hard
  cases that have allowed them to reduce Blue Wrap
  use by an estimated 70 percent.
• Many advantages in using hard cases.

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Example of Blue Wrap Recycling Programs-St.
Josephs

• St. Josephs Medical Center in Stockton started
  recycling Blue Wrap in July 2006. In the 2006
  Fiscal year (July 1, 2006 to June 30, 2007), the
  medical center recycled 5,595 pounds of Blue
  Wrap.
• Beginning in 2007, approximately 466.25 pounds of
  Blue Wrap is being recycled a month.
• The used Blue Wrap is stored in one of the
  96-gallon containers provided by their secure
  document shredding company.
• The containers are kept in the sterile area right
  outside the Operating Rooms.
• The secure document shredding company picks up
  the Blue Wrap once a week along with some other
  recyclables.
• The secure document shredding company
  consolidates the blue wrap at their facility and
  sends it to a plastics recycler for processing.

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Example of Blue Wrap Recycling Programs-St. Marys

• St. Marys Medical Center in San Francisco has
  implemented a blue wrap recovery program.
• The same highly-trained professionals, who
  deliver the blue wrap to the operating room or
  surgical suite, transports it to the on-site
  storage area.
• The condensed and packaged Blue Wrap is held in a
  secured on-site storage area until it is
  picked-up by a major distributor to hospitals.
• The distributor takes the material to its
  distribution center.
• The Blue Wrap is then picked up by an
  Environmental Services (EVS) supply vendor.
• The vendor forwards the material to other
  companies for processing into reusable materials,
  such as artificial siding for decks, docks, and
  housing.

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Tapping Into Available Resources

• CIWMB Hospital Blue Wrap Team
• www.ciwmb.ca.gov/WPIE/HealthCare/
• Local government connections
• Waste assessments for hospitals
• Vendor listing of recyclers
• Non-profit connections (Stopwaste.org etc)

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Resources Continued

• (Stopwaste offers grants to Bay Area hospitals
  Maia A. Coladonato, P.E. SAIC From Science to
  Solutions 1000 Broadway, Suite 675 Oakland, CA
  94607 Tel [phone] Fax [phone]
  coladonatom_at_saic.com

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Resources Continued

• U.S. EPA Region 9 (Wendy Shafir)
• Wendi Shafir (WST-7)
• Pollution Prevention Coordinator
• US Environmental Protection Agency, Region 9
• 75 Hawthorne Street
• San Francisco, CA 94105
•  415.972.3422
• 415.947.3530 fax
•  shafir.wendi_at_epa.gov
• http//www.epa.gov/region09/waste/p2

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Contact Information
Melissa Vargas CIWMB [phone] mvargas_at_ciwmb.
ca.gov