News

Southern Highlands Private Hospital awarded for recycling initiative

Mar 30, 2021

Southern Highlands Private Hospital is helping to turn Australian-made intravenous fluid bags, oxygen masks and tubing into gumboots and garden hoses, thanks to its hugely successful recycling program with Baxter Healthcare.

The theatre wards at Southern Highlands Private diverted 303 kilograms of PVC waste from landfill in 2020 - an annual increase of 25% which is amongst the highest in New South Wales.

Chief Executive Officer Prue Buist said surpassing the 300kg recycling milestone was a wonderful achievement.

“The success of this recycling program depends on the commitment of our theatre nurses and staff so I want to extend a huge congratulations to the team for reaching this target and being among the best PVC recyclers in the State,” Ms Buist said.

“I’m looking forward to expanding this program to more wards across the hospital and very soon we’ll be recycling alu-minium with Baxter Healthcare too.”

Under the PVC recycling partnership, the hospital’s intravenous bags, oxygen masks and tubing are placed into dedicated recycling bins which are collected by Baxter Healthcare.

All PVC waste is sorted and recycled in Australia by Welvic waste management and used to make gumboots by Bata shoes in Victoria and other local manufacturers to make garden hose.

The 300 kilograms of PVC recycled by Southern Highlands Private Hospital is enough to make approximately 2.5km of garden hose every year.

General Manager for Baxter Australia & New Zealand Steven Flynn visited Southern Highlands Private to present the team with an award for their leadership in sustainability.

“As a local New South Wales manufacturer of more than 45 years, Baxter is committed to sustainable manufacturing oper-ations and product stewardship programs,” Mr Flynn said.

“We are proud to partner with Ramsay Health Care hospitals across Australia to divert PVC medical waste from landfill to be recycled locally into new Australian-made products.

“Congratulations to the staff and management at Southern Highlands Private Hospital for leading the way in helping to create a more sustainable healthcare system in Australia,” he said.

Operating Theatres Nurse Unit Manager Annie Dean said the whole team had embraced the PVC recycling program.

“We have little recycling bins that are specific for each theatre and we had education sessions to teach staff what to do. I think everyone is really determined to get involved and play a part in recycling,” Ms Dean said.

Ramsay Health Care is committed to making a meaningful, positive difference in the world, as part of its sustainability strategy known as Ramsay Cares. This includes pursuing a global path towards reducing its carbon footprint, minimising greenhouse gas emissions, and creating a healthier planet.

In Australia, other initiatives include removing single-use plastic items wherever possible, increasing recycling and reduc-ing waste. Last year 31 Ramsay Hospitals participated in Baxter Healthcare’s PVC recycling program, which diverted 14,490 kilograms of hospital waste from landfill.

Photo: courtesy of Southern Highland News