Photo Caption: Tracey Swallow, BC Children’s & Women Leader, Patient Safety Quality and Accreditation, and Parminder Kaila antepartum/postpartum RN
A busy direct care team spotted a chance to reduce plastic waste and took action. Working with PHSA Supply Chain and the GreenCare Energy and Environmental Sustainability team, they managed to spark province-wide green changes.
A group in the postpartum ward at BC Women’s Hospital + Health Centre wanted to cut plastic waste in their work.
Their team didn’t need the plastic bags and tubing that came along with sitz baths — basins for people to sit in warm, shallow water, commonly used after childbirth.
“The bags were such a waste that nobody used,” said Parm Kaila, antepartum/postpartum RN. The team had been concerned about the plastic waste for a long time, but had been told it was just the way the product came.
“When we found out about the work of sustainability consultants in our health system, we realized that maybe we could actually do something,” Parm explained.
In total, 5,220 sitz basins were used in B.C. between April 2018 and March 2019, and half of those were at BC Women’s Hospital. That meant about 330 pounds (150 kilograms) of unused plastic had been sent to landfill from BC Women’s sitz basin use alone. “Direct care staff are essential to identify these kinds of to make PHSA a greener and more environmentally sustainable organization,” said Berna Marcelino, Provincial Director, Standardization with PHSA Supply Chain.
“It’s the end-users like this team who really improve sustainability,” Berna said. “Yes, it’s Supply Chain that purchases products, but frontline caregivers use those products, see how much waste is being generated and can identify these important opportunities for sustainability.”
PHSA Supply Chain worked with the sitz basin vendor to customize the product to remove the unnecessary plastic. The switch not only reduces plastic waste, but also saves money for the B.C. health-care system by reducing the bag-free sitz basin cost by about 20 per cent.
“We often think environmentally sustainability means more expensive, but this is a great example of where a change both reduced waste and reduced costs,“ said Sonja Janousek, a sustainability consultant who supported the change.
“It’s a small dent, nonetheless a dent in the right direction” Parm said.
Learning about Sonja’s team — the GreenCare Energy & Environmental Sustainability team — allowed us to make a change that we at BC Women’s are all passionate about.”
Do you have a sustainability idea that you’d like to discuss with the GreenCare team? Reach out to us by emailing info@bcgreencare.ca
