The Chatham-Kent Health Alliance in Canada has teamed up with a recycling company to divert 18 tonnes of non-biodegradable polypropylene plastic from the landfill. These plastic instrument tray wraps, which are common in operating rooms and emergency departments, can be processed into other plastic products in the hands of the recycling company.

Although CKHA is one of the first hospitals in Canada to make this environmental commitment, the initiative came about after learning of a similar program at a Tennessee hospital in the United States.

Taylor Purdy, a student in the environmental engineering program at the University of Windsor, began looking into the recycling program 15 months ago while doing a work term at CKHA.

She said she called several hospitals to see if they had a program in place and found there were none.

Purdy also found other hospitals had doubts about being able to recycle the instrument wraps. "Everyone thought it was just impossible," she said.

(Source: CKHA partnership diverting plastic from landfill [Chatham Daily News])