Michael Werner, material tech linen, recycles plastic waste as part of the hospital’s participation in the NexTrex Plastic Film Recycling Challenge.
Sustainability efforts at Akron Children’s are about more than just being good stewards of the hospital’s resources. They’re also about ensuring a bright, healthy future for the pediatric population that we serve.
“Our employees have led different initiatives over the years that have really made an impact on reducing waste and greenhouse gas emissions at the hospital,” said Brian Lapolla, vice president of operations. “It’s incredible work – and work that we’re hoping to continue to build on as an organization.”
Recycling in the surgery department
In November 2023, Bonnie Humiston, clinical coordinator for the operating room (OR), started the NexTrex Plastic Film Recycling Challenge. The NexTrex program encourages recycling of plastic waste, something the surgery department produces a lot of since the sterile supplies used by the department often come in plastic film wrapping.
The NexTrex challenge sets a goal for participants of collecting 1,000 pounds of plastic waste, which NexTrex will then recycle into a bench that is donated to the organization. Bonnie and her team hit that goal within 2 months of starting the program. The bench made from their recycled plastic materials is now proudly displayed at the department’s front desk.
Since then, Bonnie and the surgery department staff have continued to collect plastic film in the main OR, as well as sterile processing. At the end of each day, staff dispose of the plastic film collected during the day into 3 recycle collection bins that are now located at the department’s front desk.
“To date we’ve collected just shy of 6,000 pounds of plastic film,” Bonnie said. “By doing the NexTrex recycling challenge, we’ve been able to save plastic film from the landfills, as well as having the added benefit of obtaining a bench created by NexTrex using a composite material created from that plastic film we’ve collected and recycled.”
Bonnie Humiston and Debi Russell created a plastic film recycling program for the surgery department and have collected about 6,000 pounds of plastic film since the program began in 2023.
Since the first bench that now sits at the front desk of the surgery department, Bonnie and her team have collected enough plastic film to have 5 more benches created. The first was through a partnership with her husband’s Junior Achievement class, and the students chose to put that bench at their school’s football field.
The third bench was donated to the Ronald McDonald House, the fourth was a partnership with the Great Oaks Community CrossFit gym and the fifth was donated to the outpatient surgery center in the Kay Jewelers Pavilion.
Reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the OR
When the hospital issued an innovation challenge in 2021 looking for ways to reduce the organization’s carbon footprint, Peggy Allen, MD, pediatric anesthesiologist, and Tabitha Cline, MSN, APRN-CRNA, pediatric nurse anesthetist, met it whole-heartedly. Both had been interested in environmental issues and saw this as an opportunity to meld their personal interests with their work lives. They created the Waste Anesthesia Gas Emissions Reduction (WAGER) program at Akron Children’s as a pathway for the anesthesia team to reduce their use of nitrous oxide, use low-flow techniques for all types of anesthesia gases and overall, become more mindful of the gases that are used.
“It’s important to recognize what part we play in increasing the greenhouse gas layer,” Dr. Allen said. “Nitrous oxide is used pretty commonly in pediatric anesthesia, and it lingers in Earth’s atmosphere for 114 years, so that has a pretty profound impact on the environment.”
After the team saw successful outcomes from the initial stages of the program, they were invited to join an international pediatric hospital consortium called Project Spruce. Project Spruce also brought them a new software platform, AdaptX, which provides the team with a wide range of data and feedback that is real-time, so they can see if the efforts they’re making are having the intended effect.
The goal of Project Spruce was for member hospitals to reduce their CO2 emission equivalents by 50% within a year. The team at Akron Children’s met the goal, and they’re on track to reduce emissions by another 50% by the end of their second year with Project Spruce.
“While we’re making these incredible reductions in waste anesthesia gases, AdaptX also allows us to look at the impact that may be having on patient care,” Dr. Allen said. “All of the balancing measures have stayed the same or slightly improved, so it has not had a negative impact on patient care. It’s a win, win, win.”
Over the past 3 years, the anesthesia team has reduced their nitrous oxide use by about 84% and their CO2 emissions by 73%.
Since Dr. Allen and Tabitha began the WAGER program 3 years ago, the anesthesia team has reduced their nitrous oxide use by about 84% and their CO2 emissions by 73%. They continue to educate new staff members on the effects of waste anesthesia gases and the ways their team can work to reduce the hospital’s emissions and environmental impact. They’ve also started working with other hospital departments who use nitrous oxide to educate them and work with them on strategies to lower their usage.
“It’s an enterprise-wide program, and it has really been inspiring to see so many colleagues embrace the positive changes,” Dr. Allen said. “I think it’s important for us to do what we can to help take care of the environment. We care about children and the future of our planet, so we want to do anything we can to make this a better place for them, while continuing to provide excellent patient care.”
More to come
“All of these employee-led programs have really contributed to making Akron Children’s a more environmentally friendly organization, and we think this is just the beginning,” Brian said.
Another way the hospital is planning to keep that momentum going is by creating a new employee resource group (ERG) focused entirely on sustainability. More information on this ERG will be available later this year.
