RNSH Green Matters - Issue #1

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Meet our youngest Sustainability Committee member-

Elise Kerle. Elise is an occupational therapist at RNS and

her primary role is in acute care. She decided to join the

Sustainability Committee as she is committed to building

a sustainable environment and is driven by her passion

for change.

What she finds most exhilarating is the enormous opportunities at RNSH waiting to

be explored that will ultimately contribute to a healthier and more resilient

community – a dream of all healthcare workers! In her spare time, she loves going

to the theatre and live music concerts.

THE WORLD OF WASTE!

Waste and how we deal with it at RNS is an area that we could certainly improve. According

to the ARUP report, commissioned by the District to baseline our health service, waste is a

major contributor to our carbon footprint. So, what are we doing and what can we do to

improve?

Our ICT Team have an e-Waste service. Anytime, you have e-Waste that needs

collecting, call the ICT helpdesk and log a job. They will come and collect,

destroy all hardrives for cyber security reasons and send our e-Waste to a

registered waste provider to manage. So, please remember don’t just leave e-

Waste hanging around, make sure you access our secure e-Waste service.

In our clinical areas please orientate yourselves to what constitutes clinical

waste. Most items that you would assume are clinical waste should actually be

directed to general waste. Used gloves and other PPE are not clinical waste,

neither are adult and paediatric pads. Dressings with a small amount of bodily

fluids are also general waste. It can be quite confusing. If you are unsure ask

your Nurse Unit Manager and segregate wisely!

A new initiative by our food services team and our retailer Zouki is improving

the separation of organic waste (food scraps) from the general waste. Thanks

to our food services teams at RNS, separating food waste from patient's meal

trays will commence with the introduction of a dedicated organic waste

stream. Zouki will also be introducing waste segregation in their kitchens. Our

indicator of success will be the number of food waste bins doubling and then

tripling over time. Good luck team!

HAVE YOUR SAY If you have a sustainability story or idea to share, feel free to write to us at NSLHD-PlanetaryHealth@health.nsw.gov.au

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