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About Establishing A
Healthcare Plastics Recycling Program
85 % of the plastic waste generated
in healthcare facility is nonhazardous, meaning free from patient
contact and contamination, according to a case study on “Solid
Waste Reduction in U.S. Hospitals”
The Healthcare Plastics Recycling
Council is developing a guide with supporting tools to help
hospitals navigate the process of initiating a plastics recycling
program in a patient care.
First and foremost, plastic
recycling in a patient care setting is an advanced recycling
option. Many critical components should be considered such as
adequate dock space to manage the plastic waste and dock-out
processes, certain equipment and supplies such as balers,
compactors and carts, etc.
When implementing a Healthcare
Plastics Recycling Program facilities, professionals must follow a
strategy that either targets limited products or selected areas.
In case of targeting limited
products, once collection and recycling of the limited products
have been implemented across multiple areas, other products can be
added incrementally. Good candidates for this strategy include
irrigation bottles, rigid plastic trays and basins, plastic
nonwoven sterilization wrap and flexible clear packaging. In case
of targeting selected area, sterile with a small footprint, large
volumes of patient processing and repetitive lowpressure
activities (e.g., nontrauma areas) should be chosen. Within this
selected area, all plastic products should be collected and
recycled. Areas appropriate for this strategy include
catheterization labs, pharmacies, radiology and anesthesia areas.
Training programs should be tailored
to reflect a facility’s specific recycling program with respect to
affected personnel, departments and plastics to be included.
It’s imperative to regularly audit
the Healthcare Plastics Recycling Program within the hospital and
at the recycling partner operations as well. Audits should include
samples of materials being collected and should identify
nonconforming items and types of contamination.
Ref:
http://www.hfmmagazine.com/hfmmagazine/
jsp/articledisplay.jsp?dcrpath=HFMMAGAZINE/
Article/data/01JAN2013/0113HFM_FEA_EnviromentServices
&domain=HFMMAGAZINE
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