More than 1,000 reusable sharps containers installed

More than 1,000 new eco-friendly sharps containers, such as the one pictured, were installed at Community Regional.

In continuing efforts to go green, Community Regional Medical Center has installed more than 1,000 new eco-friendly containers for sharp medical instruments throughout the hospital and surrounding facilities.

Community Regional is the first of Community Medical Centers’ three hospitals to implement this system and the only medical facility in the region taking part in Stericycle Bio Systems' comprehensive sharp instrument disposal service. 

Community Regional’s needles and anything that attaches to needles, such as tubing or syringes, will be collected by Stericycle Bio Systems in its eco-friendly reusable containers.

“Each container can be used over 500 times versus only once and thrown away,” said Kevin Corcoran, director of Community Regional environmental services.

Trained service technicians are sent in three times a week to exchange the containers before they are full. The containers are then sent to a treatment facility, where they are opened, emptied, disinfected and, after inspection, returned to Community’s facilities.
 
The emptied, sterilized plastic containers can eventually be melted and reformed with regular plastic waste rather than being treated as hazardous medical waste, which is much more expensive to dispose.

“The amount of plastic reduced in the landfill is approximately 10.5 tons per year,” Corcoran said. “The cost of this service per year is actually less than the annual cost of buying the disposable containers — approximately $20,000 less for this campus and surrounding buildings.”

But Corcoran also says the best part of recycling the sharps containers is safety. “With the disposal company coming in three times a week to monitor, it will be safer. We won’t get the accidental sticks that can happen with over-filled containers,” he said. “The end result is we can worry less and focus more on patient care.”

This story was reported by Rebecca Wass. She can be reached at rwass@communitymedical.org.

Tuesday, March 11, 2008