Research-Based Report on Implementing a Recycling Program at Hospital

Recycling and Its Positive Effects on the Environment

Recycling has a lot of positive effects on the environment. Some of them include lowering greenhouse gas emissions, resource and energy conservation, air and water pollution, and greenhouse gas creation. There are many advantages to recycling, including economic ones that many industries sometimes ignore. Recyclables help create jobs and save money for garbage generators, which supports the national and state economies.

The Major Concept of Paper Recycling

Paper recycling is the major concept in this research. According to the report, hospitals are aware of the economic and environmental benefits of recycling. A dire need has been identified that will help to save the planet earth. There has been an increasing demand for paper products, and this report will help the paper industry to the increasing demand. Since there are no paper industries in the country, the country is required to do an importation from abroad.

Reducing Paper Product Prices and Increasing Well-being

The prices of paper products are increasing each and every day due to the demand-supply gap. This recycling program will help in to reduce the import bill of the country and also help in reducing the price of the paper products which will increase the individual’s power of purchasing and also increase their well-being.

People’s Demand for Reprocessed Paper Products

There are two probable reasons for which people would love to purchase reprocessed paper products. One of them is that in an age of high rate of inflation, this low valued range of products will entice people to purchase. Secondly, the paper products that are reprocessed are friendly to surroundings. However, most of the people don’t know about the idea of reprocessing. If alertness is made among the persons, this will lead to a rise in reprocessed product’s demand.

Cost-effective and Environment-friendly Production

The procedure of production needs less energy, used paper and other types of raw materials and thus it is a cost-effective procedure. This is why it will have many benefits over other products on the market. It is also environment-friendly. This product will not only compete with the existing paper maker companies, but also it will compete with the other closely connected industries, such as polythene bag manufacturers. We all know that polythene bags are in one way or the other dangerous to the environment. This weakness of polythene bags becomes our strength and later gives us a competitive advantage over them.

Establishing a Paper Recycling Plant in the Hospital Setting

The paper aims at describing the process of establishing a paper recycling plant in the hospital setting. Now in lesser cost, it would include a simple process of four steps that would not make hindrances in our routine work. The process includes:

1. Setting up a team that will help in developing a waste management program
2. Identifying the types and amount of waste that is being produced by the company
3. We have to sign a contract with a waste contractor who will help us in collecting all waste material and separating it from their nature.
4. Start to recycle the waste by using proper machinery and procedures.

Letter to the Decision Maker

To: Ms. Wolf

Letter to the Decision Maker

From:

Date: April 2017

Subject: Developing a Recycling Program in Hospital

This report entails waste management program in hospitals. Health care facilities are supposed to manage their wastes carefully. The institutions are supposed to plan a wide range of areas that encompass management of waste from the office and cardboard, waste from food and other related materials. The intention of this study is to set up and manage an incinerator for medical waste treatment for hospitals and laboratories in an environmentally responsible and well-controlled way.

The development of this program can minimize the quantity of expensive disposable wastes and develop a powerful tool to enhance operational efficiency at all levels. The benefits are vast to include reducing air and water pollution, diverting landfill waste, reducing litter and illegal dumping, converting solid waste into new products, reducing consumer costs, reducing industrial environmental impact, and conserving energy and natural resources.

Ms. Wolf, it is with the utmost respect that you consider all the benefits this recycling program has to offer the hospitals and accept this proposal. In terms of qualifications, I am a graduate having pursued a diploma in clinical medicine, and I felt to undertake the initiative of coming up with this proposed study.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. Executive Summary
2. Letter to the Decision Maker
3. 1. Introduction
4. 1.1 Purpose of this Study
5. 1.2 Scope of this Study
6. 1.3 Sources and Methods
7. 2. Paper recycling plant
8. 2.1 Procedure of establishing a paper recycling plant
9. 2.2 Benefits of paper recycling
10. 3. Conclusion
11. 4. Recommendations

References

Research-Based Report on Developing a Recycling Program in Hospital 1. Introduction

The largest organizations in the world are the health care facilities. The organizations produce a lot of waste every day since they are in operational for 24 hours in a day. The reduction of the produced waste can have a measurable effect in each country (Weinberg, 2010). Several benefits can be obtained through coming up with a hospital recycling program. The operational costs can be easily cut; the safety of the workers may be improved thus enhancing relations of a community as well as revenue generation. Hospitals generate diverse categories of waste products. Therefore, a recycling program that is successful should be planned with care. The planning should also entail a high infrastructure, regular monitoring, and educational programs.

This paper suggests the initiation of a recycling process in hospitals so that they can have a sustainable competitive advantage. Sustainability in the world is at the pole of the modern environmental movement (Macalino, 2008). The reduction of waste is known as an important aspect of protecting and providing for environmental stability and quality. Waste reduction is a practice that is valuable since it helps in reducing the amount of waste material that should be placed in a landfill and incinerated. Recycling requires the use of fewer natural resources than virgin materials, and recycling creates markets including those for paper, glass, as well as metal. It may sound quite a challenge to set up a new recycling program that includes plastic from patient care areas. Successful actions of such a recycling plan can heavily raise the amount of waste material recycled. Hospital’s waste can be avoided from disposal to a landfill that is according to studies of waste generation and recycling.

1.1 Purpose of this Study

The chief rationale of this paper is to come up with ideas on how to create a paper recycling plant in hospitals so that to have a competitive advantage which is sustainable. The report aims to analyze the cost and benefits of the paper recycling plant.

1.2 Scope of this Study

An estimated savings of approximately $20,000 per year for a 350-bed hospital can be obtained after establishing a recycling plant in the hospitals. This can positively impact the economy. For hospitals with beds between 500 to1, 000, the savings may range as high as $50,000 per year. The total savings for hospitals in the United States will be between $3,000,000 and $4,000,000 annually. This type of effort on behalf of hospitals in the United States will demonstrate to the general public as well as the legislators. The additional efforts are important since they are taken to protect and preserve the health and safety of citizenry as well as the natural resource in the country.

1.3 Sources and methods

This research study will be an empirical analysis conducted by a questionnaire and interviews (Kumar, 2005). Primary data will consist of interviewing key employees from the health care sector, public waste organization, and the environmental organizations. Data analysis will be based on the contents of all written information sources, questionnaires and interviews. Secondary data collection will consist of acquiring public health documentation and formal studies and research studies. Estimates of waste materials from the three largest hospitals and the two largest laboratories will be used to determine the total amount of medical waste produced (Kim, 2010). The estimates will be determined over a three-month time span with the final product being ready July 30, 2017.

A quantitative character is supported by this research methodology. It an analysis that is quantitative and therefore, it can perform an in-depth and systematic approach that can be used in the management of solid waste. A questionnaire was developed to help in facilitating data analysis. The research has incorporated this questionnaires essence (Kothari, 2004). The main reason as to why the questionnaire was developed is to establish the medical waste potential quantity and assess the management of medical waste.

2. Paper recycling plant

In the United States, the first huge paper recycling was established during the First World War. During the Second World War, the paper processing industry established an important enhancement that was enhanced by the need for materials (Flynn, 2016). The paper processing rate improved slowly with the passage of time. According to sources, about 75 percent of paper and paper mills in the country used improved papers in the production of newspapers. As the same report states, 40 percent of the mills rely on the reprocessed papers.

2.1 Procedure for establishing a paper recycling plant

There are a series of strategies that are required for the establishment of a paper recycling plant. First, a team that would help in establishing the process is required. The team will work on instructing the members of the hospital as well as the members of the community on the need for coming up with a reprocessing plant. In addition, educating the members of the company on the types of materials that can and those that cannot be recycled is vital because it will comfort the process and inspire the staff members of the hospital to contribute to the group process.

The process will take benefit of staff meetings, newsletters, bulletin as well as e-mails to the various members of the hospital. The members will also help in the issuance of the various litter bins, different from recyclables and the non-recyclables. In addition, the members will negotiate with the reprocessing transporter on the budget as well as different contracts. The team will also teach individuals from the community on what can be recycled and why is important to participate.

A group purchase can be established faster by adjusting to group pioneers that will help to champion the activities (Kim, 2010). This step is dynamic in the process of recycling programs. The neighborhood and state pioneers will be required to help in supporting the recycling attempts. They will also help in moving any unexpected administrative formality that could keep the program from succeeding. Once the discovery of how the group is reacting, the program will have the capacity to separate the team into two: the individuals who are ecologically friendly and the individuals who might be somewhat harder to convince.

It would be critical to start by showcasing to and instructing the people who fall into the primary collection. Clarify and improve the program, so it gets off to a positive begin. Once the program is building a force, it is important to begin concentrating the message on the general population who may not trust that the recycling program is vital. To this second collection, it is important to underline the financial advantages of recycling over the environmental qualities.

Recycling is more than an atmosphere decent tree-embracing development. It is a developing industry that has positive outcomes for the economy in the world. The collection individuals, the community, and the legislators should give this kind of advice notwithstanding the sustainability of the environment. The people should be taught and told that a company’s recyclables have money related esteem.

The next step is to identify the types of recyclables in the hospital. The distributed litter bins will indicate the types of litters to be put such that the recyclables are put in a different bin from the non-recyclables. The materials will depend on the type of the company; in any case, most of the materials that are recycled include the office paper, newspapers, magazines and boxes.

After the identifying the types of materials in the organization, there is a need for procedures of the collection in the company. The step will involve the purchase of containers for the collection of the recyclables. Two containers should be placed outside every office to aid the collection of the recyclables and the non-recyclables differently to ease the procedure of collection.

2.2 Benefits of paper recycling

We all know that many companies use business cards and brochures that require a great deal of paper. When these are of no use one can recycle them and gain advantage from them.

Recycling paper helps the environment in various ways. It is easy to accept that the small amount of material reprocessed in a single office creates little difference ecologically. Though, reproducing the effort of one business through the country leads to main enhancements in the environment (Lee, 2012).

Paper recycling is economically responsible. Simple stages to improve alertness of reprocessing in an office or shop can lead to important savings for the business. For example, when ordering material from printing services, a request for two side printing can save money for the company, and it is also environmentally friendly.

Waste and increase efficiency is reduced through recycling. This simply means that recycling reduces waste. For example, those things that go into landfill recycling reduce that amount through reprocessing it. Recycling can reduce rubbish and decrease the cost of waste service.

Many jobs are created through the process of recycling. Several jobs are created in green energy fields. More work means more requirements of employees (Weinberg, 2010). So it will also increase the chances of jobs and reduces unemployment. And it also promotes clean and green environment.

The recycling plant is also beneficial to the nation since it saves finances spent on the production of paper. Paper recycling is a well-established and capital intensive industry. The paper recycling rates continue to improve.

To the hospitals, the recycling plant will be beneficial in various ways. One of the ways is the fact that starting up a recycling plant likewise adds to the economy, as for duties, preservation of influence utilization, neighborhood content creation, little and medium scale advancement, work creation and riches circulation. For example, the cash spared through the utilization of less vitality implies a more focused cost of products. The creating cycle can be enormously diminished. Taking the paper, the entire wood development time slack is expelled from the creating procedure. On top of this, the company will incur less cost in the management of wastes. Managing wastes can be costly compared to disposal of waste which will cost a lot of money on landfill tax.

3. Conclusion

In conclusion considering all the environmental and economic impacts, the choice is on whether or not to initiate a paper recycling plant. It is associated with so many benefits. It is true that reprocessing practices could be time-consuming and slightly counter-productive, the savings alone can justify that you are saving hundreds of trees from unnecessary damage. Some manufacturers whose businesses deal with paper waste and have a big volume of production such as those in public institutions should know that the papers they produce are not minor quantity of papers. On average, 28 pages are printed by each web user in a day. That should be multiplied by the number of computers that are used by each staff who have access to a printer. Large institutions need to realize that their decisions about recycling could either have a long or a short-term effect in one year.

4. Recommendations

This report recommends that hospital staff should be keen in recycling opportunities since the program is a very effective staff engagement program.

Employees in hospitals should be informed and taught about recycling procedures. The hospital management should issue a memo or even throw a kick-off party when distributing containers so that to explain any procedures in separation. They should also do a follow up so that to ensure that the procedures are followed properly.

The hospital staff and patients should be reminded to keep food waste out of trash and recycling containers. Waste from food should be separately handled from trash and items that can be recycled. Where appropriate, the hospitals should work on composting this waste or recycling grease with renderers.

References

Flynn, B. C. (2016). Healthy cities: toward worldwide health promotion. Annual review of public health, 17(1), 299-309.

Kim, S. L., & Lee, J. E. (2010). Development of an intervention to prevent work-related musculoskeletal disorders among hospital nurses based on the participatory approach. Applied ergonomics, 41(3), 454-460.

Kothari, C. R. (2004). Research methodology: Methods and techniques. New Age International.

Kumar, S., & Phrommathed, P. (2005). Research methodology (pp. 43-50). Springer US.

Lee, B. K., Ellenbecker, M. J., & Moure-Eraso, R. (2012). Analyses of the recycling potential of medical plastic wastes. Waste Management, 22(5), 461-470.

Macalino, G. E., Springer, K. W., Rahman, Z. S., Vlahov, D., & Jones, T. S. (2008). Community-based programs for safe disposal of used needles and syringes. JAIDS Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes, 18, S111-S119.

Weinberg, A. S., Pellow, D. N., & Schnaiberg, A. (2010). Urban recycling and the search for sustainable community development. Princeton University Press.