Photo By Douglas Stutz | It was a modest proposal. Based on the principle from small environmental beginnings...... read more read more
It was a modest proposal.
Based on the principle from small environmental beginnings can grow large ecological commitments.
Naval Hospital Bremerton staff were asked to observe Earth Day 2024 by just devoting a few minutes to walk the command, walk their neighborhood and/or walk a nearby naval installation to bend and lend a hand in picking up any trash and plastics.
“Please segregate plastics in the blue containers behind the warehouse. Think globally, act locally,” said Robert E. Mitchell, NHB and Navy Medicine Readiness and Training Command Bremerton environmental program manager.
Earth Day was founded in 1970 as a day of education about environmental issues. A decade later, NHB relocated to its’ present locale on Ostrich Bay and since then has consistently focused on a number of programs – recycling, replacing and reusing – that actively support and encourage a culture of environmental stewardship throughout the command and surrounding community.
From solid savings to liquid investments…NHB’s water foundation project has annually reduced the use of disposable plastic drinking water bottles. Facilities Engineering Division’s Solid Waste Diversion installed bottle fillers in 14 drinking fountains and have reaped ecofriendly benefits. Just one filler can dispense the equivalent of almost 200 bottles of water in one work week, in theory keeping those 200 bottles out of recycle bins, trash cans and landfills.
Keeping with the Earth Day 2024 theme of ‘Planet vs Plastic,’ NHB has employed over the years what can be referred to as five ‘R’ principle:
Reduce personal plastic usage and purchase sustainable products made without plastic;
Refuse to not take a plastic straw or accept a plastic shopping bag;
Reuse with mesh bags when grocery shopping and have a reusable water bottle instead of single use disposable plastic bottles;
Recycle soda, water bottles, milk and juice jugs;
Remove plastic by starting a clean-up project in your local area and/or support the work of removing plastic from the environment.
The command also has a waste reduction program to collect and return what the Food and Drug Administration classifies as single used devices used in the operating room, instead of disposing of them as medical waste. After reprocessing, these devices are then available for purchase at up to a fifty percent reduction in cost as compared to new devices. Devices used in this program include arthroscopic wands and shavers, bits, blades and burs, laparoscopic instruments, suture passers, trocars, ultrasonic scalpels, and ligature sealer/dividers.
NHB also recycles various non-invasive medical devices, including compression sleeves, pneumatic tourniquet cuffs, pulse oximeter sensors, ECG leads and cables, blood pressure cuffs, splints, cervical collars, stethoscopes, and pressure infuser bags. At one point in time, all of these items were disposed of as solid waste, with associated costs and environmental impact.
Not any more at NHB.
The command has been acknowledged for environmental stewardship and initiatives efforts over the years with the Chief of Naval Operations Environmental Award. The award honors exceptional achievements in environmental stewardship among nominated ships, installations, and individuals with NHB was noted in the 'Sustainability, Non-Industrial Installation' category.
Additional notable efforts include the Laboratory's Histology department recycling of alcohol and xylene; dental clinics amalgam filters and absorbent column to keep silver and mercury out of waste waters; Pharmacy 'MedSafe' disposal container for beneficiaries’ to return unused and expired pharmaceutical products and keep the medications out of landfills; and participation in the regional qualified recycling program by recycling plastics, aluminum cans, metals, paper and ink cartridges.
NHB’s commitment to environmental stewardship and sustainability continues to be enhanced with new ways, new thinking, and new methods. Even if it’s a simple recycling stop during a lunch break walk.
Because even a minor individual effort can lead to a major collective endeavor, one recycling attempt at a time.
“Earth day, every day,” stressed Mitchell.
| Date Taken: | 04.22.2024 |
| Date Posted: | 04.22.2024 17:52 |
| Story ID: | 469180 |
| Location: | BREMERTON , WA, US |
| Web Views: | 107 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Picking Up Where Others Left Off at NHB, by Douglas Stutz, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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