Hutt Hospital Sustainability Steering Committee chairman Dominic Monaghan shares updates from around Hutt Hospital.
Hutt Hospital patients are being served a dose of environmentalism as a change to crockery will see 94,000 fewer plastic containers wasted every year.
Staff from the hospital’s Sustainability Steering Committee including domestic support services manager Debbie Jennings oversaw the swap from plastic to porcelain earlier this year.
Swapping from plastic to porcelain will save about 94,000 plastic food containers being wasted every year.
It was delivered as part of a wider change that saw the introduction of an upgraded patient menu along with a new meal delivery system that helps control the temperature of the meals.
Speaking ahead of this year’s World Earth Day on April 22, committee chairman Dominic Monaghan described the move as a “big win” for the hospital and for the environment.
“That’s 94,000 fewer plastic containers being wasted. And, as our population is growing, it would’ve been more every year.”
Monaghan, who is a senior medical officer in the Hutt Hospital Emergency Department, said reviewing non-clinical processes and systems within the hospital was a key feature of the steering group.
Hutt Hospital Sustainability Steering Committee chairman Dominic Monaghan holds a pair of reusable cups donated by MAS.
The Hutt Valley District Health Board is the second biggest employer in the Hutt Valley behind Hutt City Council, he said, so it was hoped changes at work would encourage staff to continue thinking differently in the community.
“We’re hoping that by making changes in the workplace; people will take this home with them.”
Successes so far have included getting a water fountain installed in the hospital cafeteria along with giving metal drink bottles to new junior doctors to cut down the use of plastic or Styrofoam.
The Medical Assurance Society donated reusable cups to Hutt Hospital’s Café Stat for staff to use and then return.
Earlier this year, the group introduced compostable cups made from paper and plant-based material with the aim of replacing potentially hundreds of plastic and Styrofoam cups used in Hutt Hospital every day.
The group has also taken the wheel in reviewing the DHB’s fleet of cars, ensuring 30 per cent of them are hybrid. The ultimate goal is becoming fully electric.
So what’s next? Replacing the aluminium trays used to deliver Meals on Wheels, which can’t be recycled, with recyclables ones.
