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Waste Reduction – Form a Team

Implementing sustainable and institutional environmental programs requires participation from a wide variety of individuals and departments, from senior leadership to front-line workers. In most facilities, environmental programs responsibilities are decentralized making the development of institutional goals and action plans a challenge. Waste minimization is a team effort. There are a variety of different ways to create committees or teams. Keep in mind that the main objective is to create a framework to bring decision makers and implementers together to make change happen.

There are potentially three different layers of leadership in a highly functioning environmental program, briefly described below.

  • Environmental Leadership Council (ELC): Comprised of representatives from senior leadership that have the authority to make high-level institutional commitments and the ability to commit financial resources to those commitments.
  • “Green” Team (can be new or existing committee): Comprised of department director-level representatives from a variety of departments that have either operational and implementation responsibility for, or interest in, a variety of environmental programs. These members direct day-to-day operations.
  • Recycling Coordinators (Waste Managers or Environmental Coordinators): Departmental level coordinators that have communications and some implementation responsibility in his/her department or area.

Here is a step-by-step guide to setting up one or more of these teams. As you design your program, you can use ideas from any category to define what works for your facility. In addition, the titles used here are just suggestions – change titles to reflect the culture in your facility.

Environmental Leadership Council (ELC):

ELC representatives have clout, and usually have support from the hospital administration. The ELC is charged with high-level decision making and might only need to meet on a quarterly basis. For example, if a capital investment is required for a new waste management system, a water conservation effort, or new container purchasing, the ELC might approve those expenditures.

Objectives:

  • To institutionalize environmental commitments by gaining support from the top,
  • To assess opportunities to support environmental initiatives where there are potential financial commitments involved,
  • To sign-off on and support major initiatives that require leadership commitment.

Suggested Participants for the ELC

  • Chief Operating Officer
  • Chief Financial Officer
  • Chief Medical Officer
  • V.P. Nursing
  • V.P. Support Services (may include Environmental Services, Safety, Facilities, Purchasing)
  • Environmental Program Leaders

Ideas for the ELC

  • Environmental Policy – The ELC can develop an “Environmental Policy” [link to Sample Environmental Policy] for the entire facility. An Environment of Care Policy [link to Sample EOC Policy] may complement the facility policy statement. These policies can clarify administrative support and help define and communicate the justification for improved environmental performance and waste reduction initiatives.
  • Prioritization of high-level facility goals and action plans
  • Communication strategy –
    • Market the fact that your hospital is “environmentally friendly”
    • Senior leadership can make environmental performance part of your mission.
    • Work with public affairs to see how to maximize this commitment from the top.
  • Performance Improvement Activity and JCAHO
  • Support for Environmental Health programs with clinical staff. Community outreach on some of the following areas: mercury, toxicity reduction and health, etc.
  • Meet quarterly, provide lunch – if you want docs and VPs to come during their lunch. Don’t use the meeting to just “report” on all the good things going on. Keep it a highly functioning group of decision-makers.

Green Team (Ecology or Environmental Committee):

“Green Team” representatives are responsible for the operations and/or staff that oversee waste and environmental programs. This is the group of people that figures out how to implement and maintain programs. An existing committee can be assigned responsibility (e.g. Safety, Hazmat, or Environment of Care) or a new committee (Green Team, Environment or Ecology Committee) may be formed. A team of stakeholders must be created – representatives from many different departments will have a role to play in your Waste Reduction Program.

Objectives:

  • To develop, implement and manage operational infrastructure to maintain waste management and minimization programs
  • To develop, implement and communicate work practice changes that achieve environmentally friendly practices and outcomes
  • To coordinate staff education on methods, strategies, and action plans to specifically decrease medical waste in their departments and facilities, as well as recycle appropriate products, and positively affect financial implications
  • To monitor the program and initiate alternatives to existing practices that will positively affect the environment as well as financial ramifications to the hospital
  • To collect, measure and report on environmental performance. Use data to prioritize goals and action plans
  • Report to the ELC

Suggested Participants for “Green Teams”: Dept. Director or Responsible Parties

  • Clinical Areas (Include Surgical Services-produces the largest percentage of hospital waste/operational issues)
  • Education
  • Environmental Services (collection and disposal issues)
  • Facility Management (infrastructure for waste collection and transport)
  • Food Services (source reduction, recycling issues)
  • Infection Control (infectious waste handling issues, cleaning protocol, staff education support)
  • Laboratory including: pathology, histology, clinical and research (hazardous waste issues)
  • Medical Records (confidentiality and recycling issues)
  • Nursing (operational issues)
  • Pharmacy (packaging, recycling, hazardous chemical issues)
  • Safety (regulated medical and hazardous chemical waste handling, waste accumulation, employee safety issues)

Also include specific individuals who have expressed specific concerns about or support for a waste reduction effort and who can function as effective change-agents. Some staff will need to be involved throughout the Waste Reduction initiative. Others may be involved on an ad-hoc basis or through periodic sessions that involve specific areas, e.g. Administrative Areas (paper, office issues), Radiology (x-ray, chemical use, lead pigs), Sterile Processing/ Central Service (recycling and reuse issues), and Public Relations/Communications & Marketing (to get positive press in community).

A “Green Team” can also be created on a departmental level where the determination and development of specific action plans are made relevant to their setting. For example, an Operating Room Green Team might include representatives from Anesthesia, Surgical Services, Radiology or O.R. Purchasing representatives.

Ideas for “Green Teams”

  • Centralize the measurement, data collection and reporting of environmental data
  • Drafting facility-specific environmental/waste management policies
  • Conducting (or hiring a consultant to perform) a waste assessment or audit
  • Prioritization of facility goals and action plans
  • Recycling
  • RMW Reduction
  • Hazardous chemical reduction
  • Environmentally Preferable Purchasing strategies
  • Energy conservation
  • Water conservation
  • Waste Reduction (reusables, bulk, donation/reuse, etc.)
  • Reviewing the applicable regulations, assessment & reduction tools, and available waste management technologies
  • Education
  • Coordinate new employee orientation
  • Ongoing education and problem resolution
  • Communication strategy
    • Market the fact that your hospital is “environmentally friendly”
    • Report in monthly hospital newsletter successes and achievements with your program
  • Manage Performance Improvement Activities and JCAHO
  • Environmental program initiatives make good multidisciplinary Performance Improvement Activities.
  • Monitoring, and evaluating environmental programs, and communicating the successes of to the ELC

Recycling Coordinators

Recruiting staff in every department to help manage the waste management program is a great way to help “waste management managers” stretch limited resources by de-centralizing some of the responsibility where is can be more efficiently and effectively implemented anyway – at the departmental level. Recycling Coordinators serve as point people to provide critical communication and operational links to all staff on recycling and waste management information. Implementing this program is easy and the long-term benefits are huge.

Step One: Determine what you want the “Recycling Coordinator” to do and develop a “task description”. A sample “job description” is attached. You can expand this function to also oversee hazardous materials, including MSDS management in the department. Some call these folks HITS Coordinators because they also manage H*azardous, *Infectious, department T*raining (on these issues), *Safety issues. Waste too but you can’t call anyone a WHITS Coordinators… But you can call them “recycling” or “ecology” coordinators or whatever works for the culture of your facility.

Ideas for “Recycling Coordinators”

  • Communication liaison with the primary waste manager. For example, coordinators receive e-mails updates communicating how your facility is doing with your waste management and minimization efforts which includes things that are going well AND problems that need to be addressed. Coordinators then communicate this information to all staff via staff meetings, posting fliers or copies of e-mails and by encouraging word-of-mouth information sharing.
  • Monitor waste containers for proper placement and labeling to encourage waste segregation and recycling. They can request additional bin labels and fliers as well as additional or different containers.
  • Waste management education. Coordinators should ensure staff are aware of red bag minimization programs, recycling procedures, proper hazardous waste disposal, etc. Again, they should report successes and problems to staff in their area.
  • Staff in the department should know who the coordinator is and that they are the people to go to with recycling and waste management questions. Coordinators are also the primary liaison with Housekeeping staff and supervisors in the area. This is a great way to problem solve.

Step Two: Recruit staff. First send an e-mail, including the task description, to every department director explaining the initiative and asking them to assign staff to the task. The best coordinators are those that care about these issues. Having e-mail is also pretty helpful since e-mail is a great forum for communication. A department or area can have more than one coordinator if the department is too big for one, if there are evening/night and weekend staff that should have their own coordinator, or if there are different staff meetings or groups that the coordinator doesn’t communicate with easily. But for many departments, one main coordinator can pass the information to other key people and that seems to work too. After you gather all the information, create a spreadsheet that includes coordinator name, area, e-mail, phone and key information that will allow you to sort the information by housekeeping supervisor. Supervisors can also help recruit staff and/or keep your lists updated.

Step Three: Launch your program. Consider sending out a packet or fliers or other training materials that the Coordinators can post. Make sure they understand what you are asking them to do and that they know what resources are available to help them “coordinate” their areas. Encourage coordinators to include waste management issues on the next staff meeting agenda. Even better, have them periodically invite the waste manager, and/or arrange a tour of your “trash area.”

Time Commitment

While the list of duties may seem long, most activities can be completed with only a few hours per month of time. The various perspectives represented on the “Green Team” will ensure development of a waste reduction initiative that includes all areas of the facility. The members of the team will also sell your hospital’s departments and their employees on the importance of the project.
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