As a physiologist I play a significant role in delivering the CPAP service at my Trust. Quite frankly it is terribly wasteful and so for my first post I would like to pose a question:
“does anyone have a recycling scheme in place to tackle the excessive packaging of CPAP consumables?”
Until fairly recently all the CPAP packaging at my Trust went into clinical waste. So not only was this recyclable material not being recycled, but it was also creating an additional environmental cost to be disposed of as clinical waste - 249kg of CO2 per tonne!
We now have a basic recycling system in place but it would be great to use this network as a place to share ideas of what others are doing to address the problem.
All suggestions welcome either as replies to this post or you can message me directly on the network.
Well done. Certainly any progress would be great to share for additional items such as normal face masks, oxygen tubing etc. Where I work at the RUH, Bath, we are currently linking with Suez (who manage our recycling waste) and asking them to confirm whether some of our most commonly used items can be recycled. The next step will be to replace anything we can with reusable items.
Meant to say - sorry I can't be of more assistance at the moment. Vanguard is a company that some Trusts use to repurpose certain items.
Brilliant - thanks for the suggestions. I'll keep working on it and update the network with any progress.
It's brilliant that you already have a 'basic' recycling scheme in place! Was that something you organised as a physiology department, or is it available across the hospital? If departmental, any tips on how to get started on this, and if hospital-wide, do you know what encouraged your hospital to provide a recycling scheme? It's so frustrating that whilst many of us recycle everything we can at home, there just isn't the option to at work. I am celebrating that we have just got some recycling bins for paper and dry mixed recycling in our new offices, but this only serves a tiny part of the hospital (nothing in patients, wards, clinics etc).
At the moment the scheme is just based in my department in outpatients.
As the material to be recycled is all clean plastic it simply goes into a normal recycling bin which is now in place in the department for ease of use. It was straightforward to set up and just required a conversation with the on-site waste management team.
Initially the plan was just to recycle CPAP packaging but the bin is now also being used for numerous other bits and pieces (nebuliser consumables/spirometer mouthpieces which as single use items all come in plastic wrappers).
As soon as my colleagues realised it was in place, they all embraced using the recycling bin and I'm told gained a sense of satisfaction from being able to do so, so it has been a real success.
The next step is to try and introduce something similar on the wards!
Thanks Madeleine - did you have to clear this with Infection control? Wondered whether Guedel's /NP airways could also be recycled. When I worked as a respiratory physio, there was varying guidance re Guedel's/NP airways and whether they were single use or could be cleaned in sterile water and reused.
Thanks for your comments, it's good to throw ideas around with others who work in different hospitals and specialties.
Currently it is only the clean packaging for nebuliser consumables and spirometry mouthpieces which we can recycle. Pre covid we used to use mouthpieces which could be sent off to be sterilised and then reused but Infection Control vetoed this at the start of the pandemic.
It would be interesting to find out whether they would now be agreeable to us returning to this process. I will try and make enquiries!
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