Celebrating twenty years of sustainability
What began as an initiative by an eager 8-year-old boy has become a two-decade long mission at Auburn Hospital, saving money and diverting tonnes of waste away from landfill.
Auburn Hospital’s award-winning sustainability program is celebrating 20 years.
The program was founded by Nurse Manager, Kristina Robert’s son and hospital cleaners Roseanne Smith, Helen Sala and Rosalind Jindra in 2006.
Since then, it has evolved from a can collecting project to a whole-of-hospital effort to give hospital items a second home – turning rubbish into a resource.
Kristina’s son, Alex, was 8 years old when he was first inspired by their neighbour, who collected and recycled ‘cash for cans’ and passed on the loose change to Alex.
Watching his neighbour turn landfill into cash ignited a passion in Alex to recycle, raise money for charity and donate to areas which needed support.
Alex always had the support of Helen, Rosie and their colleagues at Auburn Hospital, and their passion for the environment has inspired staff throughout the hospital to become involved in various sustainability projects which have grown and evolved over the past 20 years.
Over the years, the team estimate they’ve diverted 12 skip bins of landfill annually since 2017, avoiding a cost of $1,500 each skip.
“Everybody's just so enthusiastic because it's growing so much and involving all areas of the hospital. We would just love other hospitals to participate in what these people here have created,” Kristina says.
The secret to the program’s success: its versatility and adaptability to shift what they’re diverting and to whom.
They discovered that plastic ‘blue bowls’, once no longer sterile, can become baby baths in the South Pacific, used for animal rescue work, for water birds caught in oil slicks, for feeding and watering bowls at a wildlife shelter or in local community gardens for potting plants and collecting produce.
When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, many of the donation places introduced stricter controls than before, so the team at Auburn looked for new destinations for recycled goods.
The team have recently partnered with Pet-Arc, a charity arm of pet supply store, Pet Barn.
A humidicrib with a non-repairable thermometer can’t be used in NSW Health, but it can be used by animal shelters to provide a better chance for a young, wounded animal. Expired baby bottles can feed koalas and joeys just fine.
A bookshelf that doesn’t fit a new office layout has been used by local churches.
“We’ve passed on two humidicribs, one to Featherdale and one to Sydney Zoo,” Kristina said.
In the 20 years, their contributions have been recognised with more than twenty awards and the dedicated group are keen to keep that number growing.
“We're handing it on to the next generation. There's now an environmental champion in every ward at Auburn Hospital; people that are genuinely interested,” Kristina said.
Staff continue to collect cans and bottles from patient rooms and across the hospital and donate the funds to Save The Children or raise small amounts for small items to support patient care and experience, such as clocks and activities to support dementia patients.
“We just want to see others benefit. The idea is to keep the skip, and the cupboard, empty,” Kris said.
