A surgery center's "green team" and the West End Animal Shelter have found a way to turn one hospital's trash into a restful treasure for animals.
For the past month, "Go Green Team" staff from the surgery unit at Kaiser Permanente 's Ontario Vineyard Medical Center have been collecting a blue, cloth-like material usually wrapped around sterile surgical trays. The material can only be used once, then has to be trashed.
But now, instead of being thrown out, the material is being resurrected as animal bedding for the shelter.
"We have to start doing things differently that we can, to reduce our waste," said Montielle Bennett, administrator for the hospital's surgery center, adding that it is no secret that Kaiser is one of the larger producers of waste in the city.
When Kaiser Permanente staff launched the "Go Green Team," Bennett said the team encountered some challenges while examining ways to reduce waste.
For example, there was material which, by state standards, needed to be discarded. So they worked with city officials to figure out what material could be reused.
It was city staff which not only identified the blue material for recycling, they also suggested that it be used by the shelter, Bennett said.
The material is by far the largest waste-producing product at the center, Bennett said, as about 300 pounds of it was being dumped on a weekly basis.
"It will eventually end up in a landfill, but it will be reused before, and we are extending the time it does," she said.
When the program began, Bennett said she had no idea how much was being used.
To date, more than 600 pounds have been saved in the month since the program started.
Shannon Cox, the West End Shelter's office manager, has found the partnership to be a benefit.
Once a week, volunteers at the shelter will go to the hospital to pick up the material.
Prior to the partnership, staffers were using newspaper for the dog kennels, which Cox said wasn't always the best option.
"It's cutting down on our work time," she said. "We don't have to continue to go in there to mop the floors. The dogs were always tearing up the newspapers."
Kaiser Permanente staff have wholeheartedly embraced the green initiatives. There are now about a dozen team leaders, each tasked with making sure employees are doing their best to recycle, Bennett said.
For example, they want to eliminate all duplicate paperwork because many things are online at the surgery center. Other minor changes have been made, such as recycling the cans and bottles consumed in the building.
"Ontario is doing a great job, they have really embraced it," said Gwen Kleist , spokeswoman for Kaiser Permanente .
But the move by the surgery center is part of Kaiser Permanente 's overall effort to be more conscious of their waste, she said.
Last month, Kaiser Permanente 's Fontana Medical Center won a Partner for Change Award from Practice Greenhealth. In April, the Fontana medical center held an e-waste collection event in conjunction with Goodwill, Kleist said.
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