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Plastic Rich Environments: Tapping into Hospital Recycling

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To identify potential areas within the hospital that could ... Switch to fabric. Recycle the blue wrap. Recycling Blue Wrap. Work with hauler. Recyclers ... – PowerPoint PPT presentation

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Title: Plastic Rich Environments: Tapping into Hospital Recycling


1
Plastic Rich Environments Tapping into Hospital
Recycling
Melissa Vargas-CIWMB California Resource Recovery
Association August 6, 2008
2
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.

3
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

4
Waste Assessments
  • Customize your waste assessment to maximize
    benefits for the hospital, local government and
    the environment.

5
Example Of The CIWMBs Waste Assessment
Questionnaire
6
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.

7
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.

8
Options For Hospitals To Minimize Waste Generated
From Blue Wrap
  • Switch to surgical cases
  • Switch to fabric
  • Recycle the blue wrap

9
Recycling Blue Wrap
  • Work with hauler
  • Recyclers
  • Janitorial/Hospital supply companies
  • Confidential document shredding companies

10
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.

11
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.

12
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.

13
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.

14
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)

15
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 (510) 466-7162 Fax (510) 446-7919
    coladonatom_at_saic.com

16
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

17
Contact Information
Melissa Vargas CIWMB (916) 341-6271 mvargas_at_ciwmb.
ca.gov
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