Annual Report 2017-18 | Monash Health

Bicycle Facilities
Monash Health has invested to
encourage our staff to ride to work by
installing /maintaining a number of bike
parking facilities and changing facilities.
These include but are not limited to:
• Undercover and secure bike
parking for 78 bikes at Monash
Medical Centre
• Curved hoops at Casey Hospital near
the Emergency Department. These
are also available for the public
• Bike racks at Moorabbin and
Dandenong Hospitals.
Cleaning without chemicals
Our Infection Control and Support
Services team presented our ‘cleaning
without chemicals’ approach to the New
South Wales branch of the Australian
Nursing and Midwifery Federation. The
session provided nurses and midwifes
with information on the program, how
to make the change, and the benefits to
using this system. The session received
great feedback.
Recycling initiatives
Monash Health continues to explore
opportunities to increase our recycling
rate. Despite changes to the recycling
waste industry Monash Health still
managed to recycle 1,104 tonnes of
waste. This is equates to around
25% of all waste generated across
Monash Health.
In addition Monash Health utilizes
reusable sharps containers which saves
between 10-15 tonnes of plastic going
into landfill per year.
Our Dandenong and Clayton sites
diverted 1.4 tonnes of single use
instruments from our clinical waste
stream. These are removed free of
charge by a local metal recycler.
Grass roots initiatives
Passionate staff drive local sustainability
efforts in their areas or sites to raise
awareness and contribute to the
reduction of our environmental impact.
Some of the staff-led activities this
year included:
• Staff continuing to self-nominate to
become sustainability champions in
their own areas
• Our theatres continue to review the
content of their prepacked theatre
packs to eliminate any unnecessary
items and reduce waste. They have
been successful in reducing the
number of hand towels in each pack
that were otherwise thrown out
• Our Central Production Kitchen
which produces over 7,500 meals per
day, five days per week continued to
work with their suppliers to reduce
the amount of packaging coming into
the facility switching from recyclable
cardboard boxes to reusable plastic
food crates for meat deliveries
• Dandenong Theatre is now recycling
their PVC – oxygen masks and
plastic tubing
• Paper reduction is supported by an
ever expanding electronic access
system to information/forms
and learning materials. We have
continued to roll QR readers for
attendance records for training
and meetings
• The Asset Sales Program is now in its
5th year. The program has recycled
thousands of items, including
kitchen, cleaning, workshop, audio
visual, IT, medical and laboratory
equipment that would otherwise have
been waste disposed of in landfill.
Installation of hand dryers
An initiative to install hand dryers into
high use public and staff toilets has
commenced. These hand dryers are
very energy efficient and result in a
number of benefits including reducing
the amount of paper hand towels
used. This initiative also improves the
presentation of our bathrooms with no
hand towels being left on the floors,
reducing slip hazards.
Garden Maintenance
The gardens at Monash Health are
maintained by our engineering
department to ensure consumers,
visitors and staff are able to enjoy the
beautiful and relaxing garden spaces.
This year our engineering department
has engaged an arborist to ensure our
trees are well maintained.
41