By Debra Wood, RN, contributor
Hospitals are switching from disposable sharps containers to devices they can reuse, so they can decrease the amount of waste heading toward a landfill and save money, too.
“There was a significant cost savings and it tied into our Have Mercy on the Earth program, our greening initiative,” said Rachel DeMunda, MS, CHMM, HEM, director of environmental health and safety at Mercy Medical Center in Baltimore, Maryland. “It’s a more environmentally friendly way to manage sharps, because you are removing plastic waste from the waste stream.”
Mercy estimates it decreases about three tons of plastic waste per year with reusable sharps containers. The hospital was spending $70,000 annually on traditional sharps containers, plus disposal fees and now it expects to save $35,000 each year.
“Who would not pass up $35,000?” DeMunda said.
Sacred Heart Hospital in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, switched to reusable sharps containers in July 2008 and now saves approximately 40,000 pounds of waste annually. And, with it costing 29 cents per pound for disposal, Rick Beckler, director of hospitality services, estimates the hospital saves 5 percent of its sharps container costs.
Reusable sharps containers are designed and manufactured for reuse and are compliant with all federal regulations and guidelines. In fact, hospitals are finding the reusable top-drop, one-handed sharps boxes are safer than the horizontal sharps boxes with a lever, because the older devices can clog up. Injuries occur when someone tries to free the jam.
“We went to a simplistic system,” Beckler said. “You drop the sharps into it. And since 2008 [when the hospital switched], we have not had any incidents.”
Nurses at Mercy participated in the decision to switch and the selection of the new containers and the vendor. They also opted for larger boxes, which are less likely to fill up.
Companies specializing in reuse containers install the reusable sharps bins and then collect the boxes from the units and leave clean containers on a regular schedule.
“It also saves time for our staff and we can refocus those hours back into patient care and customer satisfaction rather than running around swapping out sharps containers,” Beckler said.
Sacred Heart required everyone from the vendor company to attend its orientation program.
The reuse company transports the filled boxes to a washing facility, which uses a robotic machine to unlock the collectors, empty the contents and send the containers through a six-stage treatment process that uses a biodegradable detergent, heat and water pressure to clean the boxes.
“They come back very clean,” DeMunda said. “We have not had any problems with them coming back dirty or damaged.”
Sharps waste is decanted directly into bins, which are wheeled into commercial autoclaves and the waste rendered harmless before transporting it to a landfill. Daniels Sharpsmarts, a company offering the reuse service, estimates the process eliminates 3.5 tons of plastic and 0.3 tons of cardboard per 100 beds.
Novation, a contracting services company serving VHA Inc. and University HealthSystem Consortium, has seen a greater than 40 percent increase in the use of reusable-sharps containers in the past two years.
“Environmental sustainability is the number one reason our members are moving to reusable containers,” said Stephanne Hale, RN, MBA, MHA, senior clinical manager of safety contract and program services at Novation. “They reduce the landfill footprint.”
Novation recently conducted a reusable-sharps container survey to capture thoughts regarding the containers from member organizations. The study found a distinct contrast to the results of its prior 2006 survey, with 60 percent of respondents reporting they believe the product is safe, up from 38 percent.
Seventy-five percent of respondents said they thought the devices did help the environment.
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